South West Clinical Schools

What is South West Clinical Schools?

South West Clinical Schools is a collaboration between the University and the NHS to encourage nurses, midwives and other allied health professionals to look at their practice, challenge current thinking, try out new ideas and work out ways to measure what they're doing.

Our work with local health services has identified the urgent need to capture improvements in patient and family outcomes, as well as ensure that existing evidence is used to best effect and increase the amount of research led by non-medical health professionals. To meet these needs, we have invested in clinical schools, which are professorial-led centres, in five local NHS trusts.

The key goals of the Clinical Schools:

• Develop capacity and capability for clinical research, evidence-based practice and quality improvement activity.
  
• Support the nursing, midwifery and allied health professions' leaderships within the trusts.
  
• Embed a clear clinical academic career path to assist the transition from undergraduate student through newly registered health professional to research leadership roles located within clinical settings.

The School of Nursing and Midwifery and the School of Health Professions are both involved in the Clinical Schools, and the staff work beyond the boundaries of these five trusts to support activities in the communities as well.