GMMH’s Adult Forensic Services reopen to student placements
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH)'s Adult Forensic Services are officially reopening to student placements.
From the start of this academic year, student nurses and other trainee health professionals at universities in Greater Manchester and Lancashire will be welcomed back to both the Riverside Centre and the Lowry Unit in Prestwich, to undertake placements as part of their training.
The placements will offer invaluable first-hand experience of working within this highly specialist setting, equipping learners with skills and confidence to navigate complex care environments. This integration of education with practice plays a vital role in shaping the future NHS workforce, ensuring safe, high-quality, and sustainable services.
The announcement follows extensive work over the last two years to significantly improve GMMH’s Adult Forensic Services with and for service users and their families. This includes the development of the learning environment, in collaboration with NHS England, NHS Greater Manchester (NHS GM), regional Higher Education Institutions, and the Nursing and Midwifery Council, to ensure the NHSE Safe Learning Environment Charter is delivered, monitored and sustained.
This significant milestone was marked on Monday 29 September 2025, by a small event in honour of the first student nurses to start their placement at the Riverside Centre.
The reintroduction of students will take place in a phased approach, with a thorough supervision, support and training package in place, and in close communication with all partners.
This significant milestone was marked on Monday 29 September 2025, by a small event in honour of the first student nurses to start their placement at the Riverside Centre.
It was attended by GMMH’s Chief Nurse, Salli Midgley, alongside other Trust nursing and AHP leaders, and staff who work at the Riverside Centre; who met with the placement students to hear about their experiences so far, offer support, and give recognition to the hard work and compassion that they have demonstrated during their time so far at the service.
Salli Midgley, Chief Nurse at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust said:
“At GMMH, we are proud to offer wide range of student clinical placements across our footprint.
“Our services greatly benefit from the enthusiasm, curiosity and fresh perspectives that the students who join us on placement bring. They provide vital opportunities to reflect on our own practices, develop the skills of our staff, and work together to improve the delivery of care for service users and their families.
“We are so pleased to be in a position to welcome back student nurses to the Riverside Centre. Over the past two years, we have worked hard to transform this service, which includes improving ward environments, developing a clinical model to improve patient safety, and recruiting and retaining skilled, kind and compassionate staff.
“As part of this work, we have collaborated closely with our higher education and health system partners to develop a safe and structured placement offer, to ensure the best outcomes for our service users, their families, and our students.
“We will continue to make improvements to our Adult Forensic Services, underpinned by our new Trust Strategy, which sets out our clear ambition for the future and how we will achieve it. The next generation of mental health nurses will play an absolutely vital role in this vision, and we look forward to continuing on our journey together.”
Phoebe Ashleigh Siapno De Carlos, student of Nursing at Manchester Metropolitan University and placement student nurse at the Riverside Centre said:
“During my placement, I have felt truly supported by the staff, who have welcomed me as part of their team. They consistently involve me in all aspects of care, which has given me valuable opportunities to expand my knowledge and develop my skills within the forensic mental health setting.”
Jean Hayles, Head of Nursing, Midwifery & Public Health in the Workforce at NHS England North West said:
“It has been a pleasure to witness the collaboration between universities, the Trust, and all other partners, working collectively to reflect on lessons learned and ensure that students are well supported and receive the highest quality practice experience. This is truly an example for how we need to work moving forward, across organisational boundaries with a common goal.”
Claire Burns, Practice Governance Lead for Nursing and Midwifery at The University of Manchester said:
“I’d like to acknowledge the outstanding collaboration between all partners in making the reopening of the Riverside Centre to student placements a reality. This achievement reflects a shared commitment to supporting student learning and professional development in mental health nursing, and it’s wonderful to see such partnership in action.”
Placement opportunities at GMMH’s Adult Forensic Services are available to students at the University of Salford, The University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, The University of Greater Manchester and the University of Lancashire.
GMMH provides a range of practice learning opportunities across all services. Learners are allocated to placements by the placement allocation teams at their universities, who provide information about their placement in advance of their start date. For more information about the placements offered by GMMH, visit the Clinical Placements Database.
