Placements and electives
Mildmay Hospital welcomes students and trainees from a wide range of healthcare and allied health disciplines. Our specialist clinical environment, covering HIV rehabilitation, complex care, and step-down pathways for people experiencing homelessness, offers learning that is difficult to find elsewhere.
We accept students for both formal placements (arranged through your university or training programme) and self-organised electives.
In all cases, students work directly within our multidisciplinary team (MDT) that includes medical staff, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a dietitian, physiotherapists, an occupational therapist, a speech and language therapist, nurses, healthcare support workers, a social worker, a drug and alcohol worker, chaplains, and volunteers.
Elective placements at Mildmay
Medical and nursing students organising self-directed electives are welcome to apply to Mildmay. Electives typically last between four and twelve weeks, depending on your medical school's requirements.
Find out more:
To enquire about an elective placement, contact Teri Milewska, Registered Manager: teri.milewska@nhs.net
I'm a Mildmay is a specialist environment. An elective here will give you direct experience of HIV-associated neurological disorders (HAND), complex rehabilitation, and care for people experiencing homelessness — clinical areas that receive limited coverage in standard medical and nursing curricula.. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
Supporting the next generation of physiotherapists
"It's great to hear that Physiotherapy students give such excellent feedback and the nursing team certainly enjoy having them around.
Mildmay really does offer a unique and valuable placement experience for all disciplines.
We receive a similar level of feedback from nursing students "
Teri Milewska
Matron and Registered Manager
2025
Mildmay Hospital offers valuable clinical learning opportunities for physiotherapy students; working alongside our specialist multidisciplinary team, gaining hands-on experience that complements their academic training and supports their professional development.
Students placed at Mildmay benefit from:
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High-quality supervision from experienced physiotherapists and allied health professionals
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Exposure to a specialist clinical environment, including treatment planning, manual handling and patient assessments
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Collaboration across disciplines, including medicine, nursing, social work, dietetics and occupational therapy
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Real-world experience caring for people with complex needs in a compassionate, supportive hospital setting
Feedback from recent placements has been consistently positive. Four cohorts of physiotherapy students in 2025 rated their experience at Mildmay an average of 8.7 out of 10, highlighting the breadth of learning opportunities and the supportive environment.
Social work
Jamie J
Mildmay’s social work team, headed up by Lead Social Worker, Beverley Nelson, supports vulnerable patients within our hospital. It offers patients wrap-around care that is respectful, inclusive, and considerate of all care and support needs. Mildmay’s social work team works with patients, their carers, family, and advocate to promote collaborative working, anti-oppressive and anti-discriminative practices.
"It has been so lovely to be at Mildmay for the last few months. I have felt very welcomed into the team and learned so much from my time here, which I will be able to take forward into my career. Thank you all for supporting my learning, it has definitely been challenging at times, but there has always been someone there to offer guidance and kind words! It is a great organisation and I have been very impressed by the level of genuine care and support patients receive."
Jamie J
May 2024
Find out more about social work at Mildmay
Dietetics and Nutrition
The Dietetics team at Mildmay, led by Specialist Dietitian Kattya Mayre-Chilton, plays a key role in supporting patients' health through customised dietary plans and guidance.
As part of our Dietetics MSc course at King’s College London, we had the opportunity to complete a three-week public health placement at the Mildmay Hospital. During this time, our main project focused on creating a recipe cookbook that addressed the specific needs of the hospital’s patients. The aim was to provide recipes that were not only nutritious but also budget-friendly, convenient and written in a clear, easy-to-understand format.
Aside from our project, we have really enjoyed getting to know the hospital, all the members of staff and all the patients. We enjoyed taking part in the life skill sessions, the debate groups and the MDT meetings.
The lightbulb moment for us was truly understanding and connecting with people we might not normally encounter. We spent time speaking with patients who had experienced substance misuse and homelessness, learning about their lives and developing a much deeper sense of empathy for individuals facing those challenges.
We’d love to say a huge thank you to everyone at Mildmay Hospital, and especially to our supervisor Kattya for making us feel so welcome and for generously sharing their knowledge with us.
Charlotte Fuller and Finn Cotterill, final-year MSc Dietetics students at King's College London, completed a three-week public health placement at Mildmay in 2025
Find out more about Dietetics and Nutrition at Mildmay
What students say
I just wanted to email to say thank you for facilitating my placement at Mildmay. Over my short time here, I've learnt how to support two patient groups with which I had had very little contact previously. Supporting these patient groups has been complex and left me reflective at times, but many of my encounters with patients and staff have been uplifting and I've witnessed an atmosphere of positivity and hope. The holistic multi-disciplinary care at Mildmay has been very impressive and a lifeline to patients. I wanted to find an elective which would help me to challenge myself and you have given me exactly that and more. As I progress into my final year, I will take with me what I have learned at Mildmay. In Scotland, we have Waverley Care which is a Hep C and HIV charity that operates Milestone House in Edinburgh- the closest equivalent I can find in Scotland! This experience has inspired me to seek volunteer opportunities within this charity. Finally, I have discussed this placement with my friends and family, and I have recounted this quote many times as I believe it fits Mildmay- “the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.” - Gandhi. All the best to staff and patients,
"The reputation of Mildmay and the highly specialised services that are offered are second to none, and such a testament to the power of applying a holistic, person-centred approach, and to be able to observe this would be invaluable in developing my understanding of care, especially when supporting people with illnesses that, unfortunately, still carry stigma. I am particularly interested in the specialised pathway that Mildmay provides to people who are experiencing homelessness. This seems such an important and very much-needed service; prior to beginning nursing I worked and volunteered with people experiencing homelessness as a result of the asylum system, and witnessing the health inequalities they experienced was a huge factor that inspired me to begin my training."
2nd-year nursing student*,
The University of Edinburgh
2nd-year adult nursing student*,
Manchester Metropolitan University
*Student names have been withheld at their request.
Find out more:
To arrange a placement or elective contact Teri Milewska, Registered Manager: teri.milewska@nhs.net