Postgraduate

First Contact Practice Portfolio Route

Credits

After completion of your Learning Needs Analysis you may be directed towards the supervised portfolio route to FCP rather than the taught route. This may be because you have already completed academic study which is relevant to the roadmap stage 1 and need to build your portfolio to evidence experiential learning at Stage 2.

Course Title First Contact Practice Portfolio Route

Qualification Credits

Duration four to six-months

A supervised portfolio route

Stage 2 is completed with a portfolio of evidence and verified in Primary Care. This is the recognition process of the application of the KSA in Stage 1 to clinical practice in Primary Care. Within a supervised portfolio route, we will support you to develop a professional portfolio relevant to FCP to demonstrate your competence and capabilities in meeting the knowledge, skills and attributes set out within the Roadmaps. Everybody moving into primary care should do the roadmap training to prove capability in the primary care prerequisite knowledge skills and attributes at masters level to assure patient safety.

You will be enrolled on a 20-credit Level 7 unit, which we have developed specifically for this purpose, called ‘Developing a Professional Portfolio’. The unit will be based on the LNA which will inform the development of the portfolio, which demonstrates your practice-based journey of development, culminating in achievement of relevant competence and capabilities. Unlike more traditionally delivered units of learning, this unit is a ‘long thin’ unit with you being guided and supported through short sessions spread out across a four to six-month period enabling you to build the portfolio alongside developing and confirming your competence mapped against your scope of professional practice.

Throughout the portfolio development you will benchmark evidence including the relevant FCP RoadMap. There are 5 roadmaps which recognise the unique skillsets that Allied Health Professions bring to primary care. These are MSK Roadmap for HCPC-registered physiotherapists or GOsC-registered Osteopaths; Paramedic Roadmap; Dietitian Roadmap; Occupational Therapy Roadmap; and a Podiatry Roadmap.

Your portfolio development will be undertaken through critical exploration/awareness of current evidence-based practice, scholarship and research and relevant quality improvement initiatives. You will generate a portfolio which includes a wide variety of valid and reliable evidence, a significant proportion of which will have been verified by appropriate education or practice-based professional colleagues.

Central to the portfolio route is the provision of a roadmap supervisor (RMSV), who may be a GP, an ACP or a recognised FCP. The roadmap supervisor will need to have previously completed the training provided, this is a two-day course. The role of a Roadmap Supervisor comes with the responsibility of undertaking workplace-based assessments and verifying evidence of knowledge, skills, and capability in day-to-day practice. This will include regular meetings between you and the RMSV to discuss working, learning needs, and workplace-based assessments. The RMSV will be able to review, comment and approve on the FCP portfolio.

Please note:
This course has reached full capacity for the current academic year. Applications will reopen at the end of July 2024.

Academic support

You will be supported with online material enabling you to build the portfolio alongside developing and confirming competence mapped against the Roadmaps. Online material will cover:

Masters level academic writing and equivalent professional practice
Critical appraisal skills, research processes and methods, quality improvement, practice development and critical reflection skills
Current issues for professional practice
Legal, ethical, professional and accountability issues related to advancing autonomous, independent practice
Developing practice focused on personal, patient and service needs
Competency and capability-based assessment
Portfolio development including mapping against set criteria.

Additional Information

Allied Health Professions bring a unique set of skills to primary care. A First Contact Practitioner (FCP) is a registered allied health professional who is the first point of contact for patients, providing expertise and increased capacity to general practice and providing patients with faster access to the right care.

FCPs are qualified autonomous clinical practitioners who are able to assess, diagnose, treat and discharge a person without a medical referral – where appropriate. FCP sits within the clinical pillar of Advanced Clinical Practice, and therefore the clinician is working towards Advanced Clinical Practice.

Note: We are currently accepting applications for the 2025-2026 PGCert FCP course only, with very limited places for the standalone stage 2 option for those who have completed stage one. To be able to enrol as a standalone stage 2 e-portfolio applicant, you MUST have already:

completed the MACP pathway or SOMM Level 3 (for the MSK roadmap) or
Possess a minimum of 40 Level 7 credits from a university focused on FCP/history taking/physical assessment

If you do not have the above, please apply for the full PGCert. If you believe you have other exceptional circumstances, please contact the course team on FCP@aecc.ac.uk . This is to ensure that the knowledge and skills required for FCP stage 1 are fully met prior to clinical practice e- portfolio. This is also to ensure that you have the academic ability to complete Stage 2 at Masters Level.

Please note you will need to have a supporting PCN / employer that supports your application for this course.

Please note that an LNA (Learning needs analysis) needs to be completed prior to your application. There are two intakes for PGCert FCP in 2025, one in May and one in September. Please state on your LNA which you would like to apply for.