A One Stockport initiative, the Stockport Multi-professional Integrated Learner Experience (SMILE) is a placement programme for learners studying at Greater Manchester and North West universities.

SMILE provides learners the opportunity to work collaboratively across primary, community and social care organisations to gain experiences in treating a broad range of patients and residents in the Stockport area.

SMILE facilitates networking between healthcare professionals (HCPs) and NHS employers across the region. There are many benefits of this, including the:

• sharing of organisation and service values and priorities,
• sharing of resources to relieve pressures,
• sharing of expertise and experiences to improve patient care,
• building of relationships in the Stockport area,
• and improving the quality of referrals between services.

During the placement, learners will visit many different services and organisations. Some of these will be NHS services and others will be voluntary, community or social enterprise (VCSE) organisations. Examples include (but are not limited to):

• a primary care physiotherapy service,
• nursing homes,
• a community pharmacy service,
• general practices,
• a learning disabilities service,
• and public health organisations.

Some of the placement hosts will be familiar to learners, and others may be new and an opportunity to expand clinical knowledge.

It is important to remember that there is no expectation for learners to be experts in all fields. Above all, placements should be welcoming and offer introductions to their services.

Watch an introductory video below: