Research centres
Institute of Medical, Biomedical and Allied Health Education (IMBAE)
  1. Centre for Biomedical Education
  2. Centre for Clinical Education
  3. Centre for Allied Health
  4. Education life
  1. Physician Associate Section
  2. Physician Associate Clinical Supervisor Guide
  3. Recruitment
Medical, Biomedical and Allied Health Education (IMBAE)

Recruitment

Secondary care

Physician associate (PA) student placements in secondary care

Recruitment activities for year 2 clinical placements occurs between March and May. If you are interested in accommodating PA students on placement, please contact PA_CP@sgul.ac.uk for further information.

Benefits of PAs:

  • Extra capacity and continuity in clinical teams
  • Increases access to healthcare for patients
  • Complements and increases skills in medical discipline
  • Familiarity with services, procedures, patients and processes

What tasks can a qualified PA perform?

  • Clerking patients (See any patient with an unknown diagnosis)
  • Ward work
  • Clinics pre- and post-op
  • On-calls
  • Referrals
  • Health promotion and disease prevention
  • Research and audits
  • Teaching of peers and students

Placements

Placements and length of attachment required:
  • AMU: 9 weeks
  • ED: 6 weeks
  • Care of the Elderly, General Surgery, Mental Health, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Paediatrics an Elective (in any speciality not listed): 3 weeks
Placement blocks 2025/2026
  • AMU block 1: 08/09/2025 - 07/11/2025
  • AMU block 2: 10/11/2025 - 23/01/2026 (includes a 2 week break for Christmas)
  • AMU block 3: 26/01/2026 - 27/03/2026
  • Elective block: 06/07/2026 - 27/07/2026

All other placements rotate every 3 weeks.

Placement expectations
  • Named clinical supervisor for students
  • Dates of availability for placements
  • Supervisors to complete a Clinical Placement Assessment and Case Based Discussions, verify attendance hours and supervise and sign-off on Direct Observation of Procedural Skills (DOPS)
  • Students will be covered under Trust/supervisor indemnity

Remuneration

The placement tariff is established by NHS England. This will be adjusted for 25-26 and further information confirmed when available.

General Practice

Recruitment for GP placements occurs between April and August.

Placement expectations

  • Named GP supervisor and physical capacity required to take students
  • Opportunities to see and examine patients
  • Review of patients seen by students by appointed GP supervisor
  • Challenge students on review/examination
  • Opportunities to complete DOPS (Direct Observational Procedural Skills)
  • Appropriate sign off for Placement (pass/fail) competency, attendance and DOPS
  • Student covered under practice/supervisor indemnity

Practice commitment

Agree to accommodate student/s for both years of the programme:

Year 1

Weekly attendance on a Wednesday during specific placement blocks. These usually occur between November – December, and February – June. Students are expected to attend for a minimum of 7 hours (excluding breaks) and should not attend at any other time, unless by mutual agreement between student, supervisor and university staff.

We advise that practices only accept students if they operate a full day of clinics (rather half a day) to maximise student experience.

Year 2

9-week placement block (full-time, Monday – Friday) scheduled between February and July. If practices are supporting two students, they will be allocated to different GP placement blocks in year 2.

Placement tariff

The placement tariff is established by NHS England and will be confirmed directly with practices.