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• Bridging the Gap

Bridging the Gap

Background 

Bridging the Gap is the University of Exeter Academy of Nursing’s flagship networking conference, created to reimagine community-based practice learning: inspiring change. The initiative was established to respond to national imperatives for transformation across health and social care education, including the Skills for Care and Council of Deans of Health Placement Strategy, which seeks to make adult social care a high-quality placement of choice for all nursing students.

The conference also aligns strongly with the Department of Health and Social Care 10-Year NHS Workforce Plan, particularly its three major shifts by expanding training routes, growing and supporting the social care workforce, and transforming care through integration and innovation.

Bridging the Gap provides a dedicated space for educators, students, policymakers, ICBs, and sector leaders to explore what high-quality community-based learning looks like in practice. It showcases the University of Exeter’s national collaborations with Skills for Care, NHS England, NHS Devon ICB, and BNSSG ICB, highlighting scalable workforce models that embrace creativity, co-production and whole-system thinking.

The conference reflects Exeter’s growing reputation for pioneering placement innovations—from creative-health “spokes” to new social care pathways—and for building bridges between sectors that have historically operated in silos. Ultimately, Bridging the Gap exists to celebrate progress, challenge boundaries, and shape a shared vision for a compassionate, community-centred future of nursing education.

Next date 13^th May 2026

Highlights of the Day Include

• Scaling Placement Capacity: Reviewing the methodology that led to a 150% expansion in social care placements within two years, ensuring sustainability through rigorous governance frameworks (MoUs, audit tools, and evaluation mechanisms).
• Creative Health Placements: Exploring how arts-based and nature-based learning environments have been embedded within the nursing curriculum to enhance student wellbeing, empathy, and reflective capacity—linking creativity with clinical and emotional intelligence in practice learning.
• Practice Supervisor Resource and Indirect Practice Assessor Model: Showcasing the national Skills for Care Practice Supervisor Resource for non-nurse CQC-registered managers and the associated Indirect Practice Assessor Model. Together, these initiatives have transformed supervision in non-nurse-led settings, increasing placement capacity, improving quality, and promoting confidence and belonging within the social care workforce.
• T-Level Dual Placement Model: Highlighting the strategic collaboration between the University of Exeter, NHS Devon ICB, and Exeter College, designed to strengthen the workforce pipeline through near-peer mentoring and FE–HE integration.

What we do

Bridging the Gap goes beyond discussion: it activates and accelerates real, system-wide change in how student nurses learn in the community. Working in collaboration with NHS England, NHS Devon ICB, BNSSG ICB, and Skills for Care, we co-design, test and scale new placement models that strengthen the social care workforce pipeline and enhance the quality of practice learning across diverse community settings.

Our work directly supports the Skills for Care and CoDH Placement Strategy, ensuring that adult social care is recognised as a robust, enriching and high-quality placement environment. We help operationalise the 10-Year NHS Workforce Plan’s three shifts by:

• Expanding training routes: developing innovative placement options in social care, creative health and community-led environments.
• Supporting and growing the social care workforce: designing national practice supervisor resources, training pathways, and sector-wide capability building.
• Transforming care: embedding integrative, arts-based and person-centred learning that prepares students for modern, multidisciplinary practice.

We lead research, facilitate communities of practice, build cross-sector partnerships, and champion student voice. Our initiatives connect health, social care, education and creative sectors—bridging gaps in understanding, opportunity and innovation. Through this work, Bridging the Gap shapes a sustainable, integrated workforce vision rooted in compassion, creativity and community.

Aims and Objectives

Aim

The overarching aim of Bridging the Gap is to redefine and elevate practice learning within community-based settings, fostering models of education that inspire meaningful, sustainable change across health and social care. The initiative positions community environments—including social care, creative health, and wider third-sector organisations—as central to preparing future nurses for holistic, relationship-centred and system-aware practice.

Objectives

To achieve this aim, Bridging the Gap seeks to: