PGCert Enhanced Clinical Practice (Apprenticeship)

Fundamental to practice at enhanced level (and all levels of practice) is practitioners having and exercising a developed understanding of their personal scope of practice at any one point in time and the limits of their scope and competence, and therefore knowing when they need to seek advice and guidance to ensure that patient safety is upheld.

This first unit is designed around three pillars of practice which are fundamental to the development of enhanced practice: leadership, education and research.

This unit aims to support and facilitate building and further developing your competence and capability at an enhanced level in history taking, assessment and examination.

The unit includes advancement of human life sciences knowledge and understanding, particularly anatomy and physiology, to identify causes, signs and symptoms and impact of physical and mental health conditions to underpin assessment and diagnosis of individuals.

It focuses on holistic assessment using personalised approaches to care and therapeutic communication for consulting with individuals and their carers/families.

This unit aims to support and facilitate building and further developing your competence and capability at an enhanced level in history taking, assessment and examination focused on musculoskeletal care.

The unit includes advancement of human life sciences knowledge and understanding, using the application of anatomy, biomechanics, pathophysiology, and psychosocial factors within assessment and diagnostic processes, therefore supporting you to develop your capability in providing interventions and utilizing appropriate equipment within your scope of practice.

The unit will enable you in the delivery of person-centred care, promoting health and well-being, and demonstrating initiative and creativity in finding solutions to problems.

Through the unit you will be supported to develop the skills which enable a higher degree of autonomy and responsibility with a depth of practice to consistently assess and manage complex patients appropriately.

This unit aims to help you to manage acute and long-term conditions in acute, urgent and emergency settings, utilising appropriate clinical assessments to respond flexibly to patients’ current and ongoing needs.

This unit aims to provide you with the knowledge and skills to lead appropriate reassessment, request and interpret diagnostics within your scope of practice and setting, and lead ongoing management of acutely unwell patients.

This unit will cover utilising appropriate technology and interventions that is aligned to the specific needs of the person and their context of care, developing personalised management plans, and enabling patients to make informed choices about their care.

This unit aims to support you to identify, assess and manage patients who present with a range of mental health issues.

The unit is designed to support you to develop enhanced clinical reasoning skills, selecting and evaluating evidence from a range of sources to develop management plans that incorporate effective use of therapeutic interventions to promote mental health and wellbeing in your patient caseload.

At the end of this unit, you will be able to assess patients, identify risk factors and red flags and to work with the multidisciplinary team to ensure patients with mental health issues are appropriately assessed and cared for within the service and your scope of practice.

You will be able to develop your skills and knowledge to a level of practice that enables you to work in partnership with patients and carers/families, facilitating informed choices about care and treatment interventions, as part of holistic care provision within their own service.

This will include recognising referral and signposting processes to appropriate mental health and / or psychological practitioners, social care or voluntary sector services for ongoing management and care.

This unit aims to support experienced practitioners to develop skills in integrating relevant patient data through appropriate and systematic history taking, physical examination and investigations to examine and diagnose patients with a wide range of presenting conditions across primary, community and social care settings.

At the end of this unit, you will be able to identify, select, and apply a range of assessment techniques to consider the holistic needs of people, utilising appropriate tools and techniques.

Within this unit, you will also explore personalised approaches to patient care that value co-production and shared decision making with service users.

You will have the opportunity to develop management plans, considering the circumstances, priorities, preferences, risks and benefits for patients. You will draw on your understanding of local service provision and relevant guidelines to support your decision making.

You will learn to monitor changes in response to treatment, using relevant outcomes measures, proactively managing risk.

Within this unit, you will be encouraged in the development of your skills in condition management through intervention, self-management, health promotion and behaviour change.

This unit aims to support and further develop your knowledge, competence and capability of supporting older adults at an enhanced level.

Within this unit, you will explore the complexity of ageing, including the impact of wider determinants of health.

You will gain understanding of assessment, investigations, legislation and professional guidance.

Within this unit, you will use enhanced clinical assessment skills to recognise when an individual is living with frailty, contributing to a comprehensive geriatric assessment.

You will gain skills in recognising multisystem conditions, and proactively mitigate individuals’ risk of deterioration.

This unit also allows you to explore relevant interventions, sources of health promotion, to identify and recommend relevant treatment and personalised care.

This unit will provide you with knowledge and understanding of typical and atypical development, physical and social milestones to distinguish between healthy presentations and the likely presence of pathology.

At the end of this unit, you will be able to undertake specialist assessments and interventions, drawing on expert understanding of the bodily structure and function.

This unit will provide you with a baseline to understand and apply knowledge relating to an array of complex health conditions, across a variety of body systems, specific to children and young people.

Across the unit, you will explore factors that impact well-being, activity, and participation at different ages and stages of development. This will include the impact of health inequalities and social determinants of health.

You will have the opportunity to develop and promote intervention plans in collaboration with patients and families, in collaboration with other professionals to develop interdisciplinary management plans.

What qualifications do I need?

You are required to have a recognised degree and/or professional qualification as an allied health professional (physiotherapist; osteopath; dietitian; or occupational therapist) The minimum entry requirement is a 2:2 degree in an appropriate subject area. 

You must have registration with the appropriate professional regulatory body, with no restrictions to your practice. You must  be working clinically in a patient facing role with the opportunity within practice to work at an enhanced level within your employment. You must have agreement from employers to support, with respect to time and opportunity, both in the workplace setting and at the University.  

Is there anything else that’s required?

In addition, apprenticeship funding comes with the following requirements:

• You must be employed for a minimum of 30 hours per week.
• You  must also have evidence of English and Maths at Level 2 (Grade C/4 or above) or equivalent prior to the end-point assessment.

International registrants who are employed and have relevant visas can access apprenticeship programmes and therefore there should be no additional entry requirements .

If you’re not sure about anything listed here, talk to our Apprenticeship team by emailing apprenticeships@aecc.ac.uk complete the form below or call us on 01202 436200 and we’ll be happy to answer any question you have.

For more information about our admissions policies and procedures, including our Admissions Complaints and Appeals Policy, see latest policies.

International Students

For further information on English language requirements, please see the dedicated English language requirements page.

More information on permission to study in the UK can be found on our Visas and immigration page.

For more information about our admissions policies and procedures, including our Admissions Complaints and Appeals Policy, please see our latest policies.

Evidence of prior learning

At interview you undertake a skills scan, where this identifies relevant prior academic learning and experience, relevant to the course learning outcomes, consideration will be given to recognition of this prior learning. Prior learning will be reviewed to ensure it meets the learning needs of the course and meets the learning outcomes of any units where exemption is requested.