Student application process

See placement information for information about the massage therapy service at Springfield Hospital and the placement offered here. This is to help you consider whether you would like to apply to do your placement with us. You may wish to consider your learning needs, interests and career goals. Do discuss this further with your tutor if this is helpful for you.  

Please be aware that due to the individual supervision and support that we offer places are limited. We are able to take a maximum of 10-12 students a year at the present time.

If you decide to apply, you will need to send us the following:

1. A reference from your tutor.
2. A second reference. This can be from a current or former employer, or a character reference from someone who knows you well, but who is not related to you, e.g. family friend, teacher etc.
3. A copy of your CV showing all contact details, including email address, landline and mobile numbers.
4. A letter of application including the following details:
5. • The course you are on at the University
   • Date of starting the course
   • Modules completed to date
   • Amount of experience in the polyclinic and type of bodywork
   • Other experience of working with clients if applicable
   • Your current timetable (i.e. college and work commitments)

·        Why you would like to be considered for a placement within mental health

·        What aspects of your learning you would like to develop through this placement

Please send all the above together to:

Ceris Fender-Reid - Massage Therapy Team Leader
Physical Therapies Department
Jasmine Tower
Springfield University Hospital
61 Glenburnie Road
London
SW17 7DJ

Once we have all the above paperwork we can to process your application. The stages are as follows:

1. You will be contacted by our Human Resource Department. They will ask you to complete additional paperwork to enable a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Occupational Health check to be carried out. This is standard procedure for all employees and placement students in the NHS. They will ask you to bring in certain documents such as your birth certificate. You must bring in originals and not photocopies.
2. CRB requests have to be sent away to the Criminal Records Bureau who take on average 8-10 weeks to complete this check and issue you with CRB clearance. As they are an external organisation the length of time taken to process your check is not within our control. 
3. Sometimes the Occupational Health department want to see you to discuss any health issues that you may have, in order to ensure that it is safe for you to do massage therapy here. This would happen while Human Resources were waiting for your CRB check to be cleared. 
4. As soon as Human Resources have received CRB and Occupational Health clearance for you they will issue you with an honorary contract.  You cannot start your placement until you have this honorary contract.

As this process takes considerable time we recommend that you send in your application paperwork as soon as you know that you would like to do this placement and also complete the paperwork for Human Resources as quickly as possible. We cannot predict exactly how long the process will take so we will agree an estimated start date with you once you have provided Human Resources with everything that they need. We can then confirm or adjust this date depending on how long the Criminal Records Bureau takes to complete your check. 

If you have any questions that you would like to discuss do not hesitate to contact Ceris Fender-Reid, Massage Therapy Team Leader on 020 8682 6474 or email ceris.fender-reid@swlstg-tr.nhs.uk.