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Good mentoring is particularly important for student support. Where there are high student numbers in placement, this can adversely affect students' placement learning.

To embed interprofessional education in practice-based professions' curricula and clinical placements requires active, supportive structures and local facilitation. Structures such as Placement Development Teams can help to achieve this where organisational cultures are influenced by committed staff. Students require persuasion concerning the benefits of interprofessional education.

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English stakeholder collaboration has resulted in a new quality assurance process for non-medical health and social care placement providers and higher education institutions. This study aimed to discover the impact on student support that taking part in a pilot had on participating placement areas. Using a questionnaire survey with longitudinal followup one year later, we found that placement staff valued the opportunity to review and improve student support practices. This was still in evidence a year later where the pilot was described as giving the opportunity to provide evidence of aspects of student support practice; communicating and changing or developing aspects of that practice. Benefits accrued from interdisciplinary working in sharing and collaborating with other professions and organisations. Such activity could enhance clinical support staff activities and facilitate strategic partnerships between placement providers and higher education institutions.