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Nursing students help close health gaps in Leeds

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Nursing students from Leeds Trinity University have supported in delivering a new initiative to reduce health inequalities across Leeds.

Nursing students help close health gaps in Leeds

The project, overseen by the Leeds Health and Care Academy and delivered in partnership with other regional Higher Education institutions, saw students lead workshops with primary school children on handwashing, healthy eating, brushing teeth, and explain the roles of healthcare professionals through interactive sessions. 

This approach reflects the city’s ambition to reduce health inequalities by embedding health and wellbeing into everyday environments and inspiring future generations. 

Students completed placements at Ireland Wood and Westgate Primary Schools, helping raise awareness of hygiene in everyday life in ways that children could understand, so they can easily implement healthy habits into their routines. 

An impact report produced by the Leeds Health and Care Academy assessing the project stated: “Aligned with Leeds’s Marmot City ambition to reduce health inequalities and improve outcomes for the most disadvantaged, the pilot demonstrates how integrating care and education can have a lasting impact. By embedding health and care professionals within school communities, we create early opportunities for prevention, promote wellbeing, and strengthen the link between learning and health from the earliest stages of life.” 

The placements contributed nearly 2,000 additional hours of community-based learning across the city, demonstrating that by embedding nursing students into schools, the programme not only supports children’s wellbeing but also strengthens the city’s future healthcare workforce. 

Deb Lomax is a Learning Disability student nurse at Leeds Trinity University. She described some of the activities she was able to implement in the school to promote health. “We did a handwashing activity with the children. We played them an NHS video and sat them down to explain why we wash our hands. We got them to come up and wash their hands and gave them a sticker, so it was a nice promotion for handwashing, and the children were engaged in the activity.” 

Jane Price, Inclusion Manager at Ireland Wood Primary School, said: “It can feel quite a scary thing to say you can support students on top of your day job, but they were very independent and came up with their own ideas and solutions. They worked with the children but also suggested ways the school could develop further. It’s been a great opportunity for us as a school to learn from the students, and we’d be happy to have them here again.” 

Emma Harris, Practice Placement Manager at Leeds Trinity University, added that placements in schools give students first-hand experience of working in multidisciplinary teams. “In mainstream schools, children still have medical and physical needs, so it’s a really useful placement. Working in a multi-disciplinary environment, with physios and school nurses coming in and seeing that interaction, is really valuable for our students,” Emma said. 

To find out more about professional work placements at Leeds Trinity University, including how to become a placement partner or join our employer networks, visit the website.

For initial teacher training placements, please contact PrimarySBT@leedstrinity.ac.uk (for Primary school placements) or SecondarySBT@leedstrinity.ac.uk (for Secondary school placements). For Nursing, Social Work or Healthcare placements, please contact the Practice Placement team on ppt@leedstrinity.ac.uk 

For placements within any other area or work, please contact placements@leedstrinity.ac.uk.