MSc Advanced Clinical Practice – Apprenticeship (advanced clinical practitioner integrated degree route)

As an Advanced Clinical Practitioner, you will:

• Have a high level of autonomy (refers to Advanced Clinical Practitioners working to the full scope of their professional practice) and freedom to make decisions about how people should be cared for and treated and act in complex and unpredictable situations
• Use person-centred approaches to taking an individual’s detailed history and examine body systems to help you make a diagnosis
• Select, undertake or request a range of appropriate clinical tests and assessments to help you make a diagnosis
• Initiate and evaluate a range of interventions, which may include for example prescribing of medicines, therapies and care
• Apply a skillset that may have traditionally been the remit of other disciplines so that you can enhance the care and experience of individuals
• Analyse, interpret and act on the results of clinical tests and assessments and formulate a plan of care, which may include admission to a care setting such as a hospital, referral to settings for another opinion or discharge from services
• Drive service improvements, educate others and provide consultancy services within your scope of practice
• Undertake research activities to develop new knowledge and undertake audit to evaluate and further develop your area of expertise to improve care and services for the people you are treating.

There are two pathways available: 

If you are a nurse then the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (Advanced Nurse Practitioner) qualification will be most suitable; for midwives, allied health professionals and other non-medical healthcare professionals, the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice route is appropriate.

1. MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (Advanced Nurse Practitioner) (180 credits level 7, ECTS 90) (advanced clinical practitioner integrated degree route) For NMC Registered Nurses only

2. MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (180 credits level 7, ECTS 90) (advanced clinical practitioner integrated degree route) for registrants of the appropriate professional body for their profession

See a diagram with a flowchart of the various pathways (pdf 88Kb)

Programme specifications provide definitive records of the university's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry.

If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance.

Download the programme specification (Advanced Nurse Practitioner) (PDF)

Download the programme specification (PDF)

• You must have a contract of service with an employer which is long enough for you to complete the apprenticeship successfully (including, the end-point assessment). This is expected to be three years / typically 36 months.
• You must be employed in clinical practice for a minimum of 30 hours per week and be working to a job description that enables development in line with the occupational profile and apprenticeship standard of the Advanced Clinical Practitioner Apprenticeship.
• You must have support from your employer to work enough hours each week so that you can undertake sufficient regular training and on-the-job activity. This is to ensure you are likely to successfully complete the apprenticeship. You must keep evidence of the agreed average weekly hours, including time spent on off-the-job training, in the evidence pack. 
• On-programme and supervised work place learning should be structured to enable increasing independence and autonomy as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner, as the apprenticeship progresses.  Your progress academically and in the workplace will be monitored at regular intervals prior to gateway progression.
• You must have a suitable, named supervisor / assessor, agreed by your employer and University, who will support you in applying, reinforcing and demonstrating the required knowledge, skills and behaviours within the workplace.
• Your employer must allow you to complete the apprenticeship within working hours. This includes off-the-job training requirement of 20% of your whole time equivalent hours, as well as the stipulated on-the-job training.

• A Bachelors Honours degree with minimum 2:2 in any subject, or equivalent.
• You must have been registered with your respective statutory regulator of health and care professions (i.e. NMC, HCPC), for a minimum of 3 years and provide proof of current registration.
• Level 2 English and Maths (i.e. GCSE grade C or above). If you do not hold this you must complete this level prior to applying for the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice Apprenticeship. Other level 2 equivalent qualifications must meet the acceptable qualifications for English and Maths requirements for apprenticeships defined by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) at level 2 and above. 
• If English is not your first language, you will need to provide evidence that you can understand English to a satisfactory level. English language requirements for this course are normally IELTS (academic) 6.5 or above with minimum 6.0 in writing and 6.5 in speaking, listening and reading.
• Your employer, in conjunction with your supervisor/assessor and the university, will confirm when you have met the criteria and are eligible to progress to the end point assessment. 
• The University will uphold all requirements for independent assessment in the end point assessment as identified by the Institute of Apprenticeships, which you need to complete in a maximum three month period
• You cannot commence another DfE funded FE/HE programme, at the same time as any apprenticeship.
• You cannot use a student loan to pay for an apprenticeship. Where an individual transfers to an apprenticeship from a full-time further education or higher education course, and that course has been funded by a student loan, the loan must be terminated by the individual and confirmed with the University