PgCert Enhanced Clinical Practitioner (Apprenticeship)

Develop enhanced clinical practitioner competencies aligned to the knowledge, skills, and behaviours identified in the occupational standard. Gain the skills and knowledge needed to work as part of a multidisciplinary team. Work within an area of enhanced practice.

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Student doctors and nurses working with a manikin on the mock hospital ward

Start date/study mode:

Course codeCID1516

Duration13 months

Course summary

The Enhanced Clinical Practitioner (ECP) apprenticeship is designed to help healthcare professionals develop advanced knowledge, skills, and behaviours aligned with national apprenticeship standards. The course prepares you to work at an enhanced level of practice within multidisciplinary teams across health and social care settings. This includes the NHS, forensic, social, and prison services.

This 13-month course, followed by an End Point Assessment (EPA), focuses on developing enhanced clinical competencies that enable you to contribute to specific areas of patient care. ECP will work alongside the MSc Advanced Clinical Practitioner(opens in new tab). It's a destination role in its own right. It offers services and patients a consistent level of expertise, working in discrete areas of patient pathways.

You’ll study topics such as:

Clinical assessment
Anatomy and physiology
Reflective practice
Clinical risk management
Service improvement
Leadership
Health literacy.

Assessment includes continuous evaluation of clinical skill development, reflective learning, and the creation of a professional portfolio.

The course has a blended, student-centred approach. This encourages collaboration and shared learning across professional groups. You'll learn from experienced advanced practitioners from a range of clinical backgrounds. This ensures that learning is both current and embedded in real clinical practice.

Why Sunderland for Higher and Degree Apprenticeships

How you'll learn

There'll be a range of learning strategies employed throughout the modules. These will include:

Flipped classroom
Keynote lectures
Seminars
Problem-based/case-based learning
Simulation
Involvement of Patient, Carer and Public Involvement (PCPI) participants.

All these methods will provide you with opportunities for engagement and success.

There are a range of assessments, including a portfolio, work-based competency assessment, and professional development plan. These feed into your EPA as required by the apprenticeship occupational standard.

Entry requirements

If you're 19 or older when you begin your training, you're no longer required to achieve English language and maths qualifications to complete your apprenticeship. Employers now have the discretion to determine whether these qualifications are necessary for their apprentices' roles. They may choose to include them as an entry requirement or integrate them into the training course if considered relevant.

You should hold a first degree or equivalent. However, if you don't have this, you're welcome to discuss your application with the course leader.

You should also be registered with the appropriate professional and/or regulatory body (for example, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) or Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)) and employed within a trainee ECP role.

Your employer should provide a job role/description before enrolment (or develop one in tandem with the course team), and employers must support you.

This course is suitable for those to enter with advanced standing (for example, Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL)).

Fees and finance support

Larger organisations can use their apprenticeship levy and government top-up to pay tuition and professional fees of higher apprenticeships. For smaller employers, the government pays 95%, with the remainder co-invested by the business.

For a discussion around your specific requirements please call 0191 515 3361(opens in new tab) or email apprenticeships@sunderland.ac.uk(opens in new tab).

Apply now

Start date/study mode:

To apply for a higher or degree apprenticeship, you must have an employer in place to support you on the course. If you're interested in applying and have an employer in place, please email apprenticeships@sunderland.ac.uk(opens in new tab) and we'll send you the relevant application link.

To search for apprenticeships offered by employers in your area go to: gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship(opens in new tab).

For a discussion around your specific requirements, or if you're an employer interested in creating a vacancy, please call us on 0191 515 3361(opens in new tab) or email apprenticeships@sunderland.ac.uk(opens in new tab).

Disclaimer

We want to make sure you have clear and accurate information about our courses. Our website always shows the latest updates. If you’ve applied and you're offered a place, we’ll contact you in writing if anything important changes.

For more information, view our programme specifications. These include course content, learning outcomes, and the skills you'll gain.