School of Nursing

MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (Specialist Negotiated Practice)

Award
MSc
Start date(s)
September 2024, September 2025, March 2025, March 2026
UCAS Code
Course specifications
Course length
Part-time (3 years)
Campus location
University: Telford Campus,University: Walsall Campus
UCAS points calculator

Why choose this course?

The MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (Specialist Negotiated Practice) provides access to structured and supported educational development to enable you to progress through your Masters Level study to meet the requirements set by Health Education England (2017) in their Multi-professional Framework for Advanced Clinical Practice in England.   

The MSc Advanced Clinical Practice has been designed to meet the needs of the health professional whose desire is to develop their clinical career to a higher level as an advanced practitioner. The course philosophy is to acknowledge your prior experience and knowledge as a health professional and subsequently enable you to fulfil your potential as a postgraduate through the development of new understanding, critical insight and advanced level academic and clinical skills. This course is open to practitioners registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), and General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).   

All applicants will be shortlisted and must attend an interview. Those wishing to join a September cohort must have had their interview prior to August, and those wishing to join a March cohort must have had their interview prior to February.

Accreditation and Professional Regulation 
 Accreditation image
The Centre for Advancing Practice

This programme is accredited by the Centre of Advancing Practice.


Health Education England's Centre for Advancing Practice has been established to standardise post-registration education by accrediting advanced practice courses that achieve the standards outlined in the multi-professional Advanced Practice Framework. 


Practitioners who have completed accredited education programmes will be eligible to be listed on the Centre's Advanced Practice Directory. Programme accreditation from the Centre for Advancing Practice will bring a new level of consistency to the workforce and help showcase advanced practice within health and social care. 


Programme accreditation from the Centre for Advancing Practice will bring a new level of consistency to the workforce and help showcase advanced practice within health and social care.

All applicants will be shortlisted and must attend an interview. Those wishing to join a September cohort must have had their interview prior to August, and those wishing to join a March cohort must have had their interview prior to February.

What happens on the course?

The programme will develop your knowledge and skills to work at an advanced level of clinical practice and has been designed around the Health Education England (HEE) Multi-professional framework for advanced clinical practice in England. 

Year 1 will allow you to develop key aspects of the ACP role, including advanced health assessment and clinical reasoning to provide an evidence-base to your patient consultations.  You will review current practice and develop a service improvement initiative, demonstrating leadership and governance skills in line with the four pillars of advanced practice. You will study a total of 60 credits in year 1. 

Year 2 will enable you to build on studies in advanced clinical practice and further develop your role in relation to research and prescribing practice. You will study a total of 60 credits, the Specialist Negotiated Practice modules 7HW068 and 7HW069. These modules provide the flexibility for you to explore and critically analyse the evidence underpinning specialist aspects of your role or areas of professional interest. 

Year 3 Dissertation will enable you to evaluate critically, current research and evidence for advanced healthcare practice and to develop academic skills at a higher level. 

Course Modules

Additional Information

Everything you need to know about this course!

  • Building strong connections with our clinical partners.
  • Esteemed and established course.
  • A choice of two pathways to meet your development needs: one includes non-medical prescribing, the other includes specialist negotiated practice. Note: specialist negotiated practice allows you to develop your own module to reflect your personal and professional development needs in your specific area of advanced practice.
  • Teaching from experienced academics, practitioners and researchers.
  • A multi-professional learner environment with experienced practitioners from a range of clinical specialities and practice area.

To access the Master of Science (MSc) Advanced Clinical Practice (Specialist Negotiated Practice) you must be a practitioners registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) or General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) who are working in a clinical area with identified support from an appropriate clinical supervisor.

To become an Advanced Clinical Practitioner, the following points should normally be met and the applicant must be in a role that has employer support for clinical placement and time to attend the course with a clinical supervisor/mentor in practice:

  • Hold current first level Professional Registration with a relevant regulatory body.
  • Entry requirement includes first degree and minimum of 3 years’ relevant experience in clinical practice.
  • Recognised post within a healthcare organisation and the post listed within workforce plan and business need.
  • Confirmed defined / protected Advanced Clinical Practice role for the trainee to be moved into on successful completion of the programme.
  • Appropriately named clinical supervisor to support the trainee during the programme of training. The supervisor will not necessarily hold the same professional registration as the developing advanced clinical practitioner/trainee but will be experienced in supervision and in the relevant field of advanced clinical practice.
  • Commitment to providing protected learning time for the trainee Advanced Clinical Practitioner during the MSc and this is equivalent to: One day a week in university (or equivalent) reading, writing and other academic activities.
  • One day a week protected time for supported clinical practice (or equivalent).
  • Applicants without a first degree

    We have a separate policy for applicants who do not hold a first degree at 2:2 but have substantial and relevant clinical or prior study experience. Please discuss with the course leader in the first instance. Applicants may be offered a place to study a single module of the programme as a stand-alone module student and, if successful, upgrade your university registration to a Postgraduate Certificate, Diploma or M.Sc. and use your stand-alone module towards the course to which you have upgraded.

    Existing Practitioners

    Existing practitioners who are currently working in an Advanced Clinical Practice role and do not have a M.Sc. level of education have options to either complete the Masters or continue in the role and update in-line with their CPD requirements.

    There are ‘Top Up’ arrangements or Recognition of Prior learning (RPL) for existing practitioners who do not have a full Master’s degree. They have the option to complete the degree and to do this they would need to be in a relevant Advanced Clinical Practice post and supported by their organisation.

    For students who do not currently hold a V300 Non-medical Prescribing qualification, your year two pathway must include the completion of 7NH094 Non-medical Prescribing for Nurse, Midwives and Allied health Professionals (40 credits) and 7HW126 Advanced Inquiry (20 credits) as core modules. Any student who does hold a V300 Non-medical Prescribing qualification you will undertake an RPL process to include your V300 for a total of 40 credits and then complete 7HW126 Advanced Inquiry as your core module for year two of the MSC Advanced Clinical Practice.

    This includes Pharmacists who have completed a level 7 Post Graduate Certificate in Independent prescribing will be profiled and will be advised on the appropriate entry level to the course, and practitioners have successfully completed the V300 Non-Medical Prescribing at level 6 or 7, they would be eligible to claim RPL towards the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice.

    Those applicants who meet all of the requirements of the Post Graduate Diploma will be required to complete a research module and dissertation along with evidence of achievement of the advanced clinical capabilities.

    Postgraduate Loyalty Discount:

    You can get 20% discount on a taught postgraduate course if you’re a University of Wolverhampton Graduate.

    The University offers a generous 20% Loyalty Discount to students progressing from an undergraduate programme to a taught postgraduate on-site programme, where both courses are University of Wolverhampton Awards.

    There is no time limit on how long ago you completed your degree as long as this is your first Masters level qualification.

    The discount applies to the first year of enrolment only. Students who receive a loyalty discount are not entitled to any further tuition discount or bursary. For full terms and conditions click here.


    Self-funded:

    If you are paying for the fees yourself then the fees can be paid in 3 instalments: November, January and April. More information can be found by clicking here.


    Sponsored - Your employer, embassy or organisation can pay for your Tuition fees:

    Your employer, embassy or organisation agrees to pay all or part of your tuition fees; the University will refer to them as your sponsor and will invoice them for the appropriate amount.

    We must receive notification of sponsorship in writing as soon as possible, and before enrolment, confirming that the sponsor will pay your tuition fees.


    Financial Hardship:

    Students can apply to the Dennis Turner Opportunity Fund for help with course related costs however this cannot be used for fees or to cover general living costs.


    Charitable Funding:

    You might also want to explore the possibility of funding from charitable trusts; please see the following websites Association of Charitable Foundations, Directory of Social Change or Family Action. Most charities and trust funds offer limited bursaries targeted to specific groups of students so you will need to research whether any of them are relevant to your situation.

    You can find more information on the University’s Funding, cost, fee and support pages.

    Telephone

    01902 32 22 22

    Email

    enquiries@wlv.ac.uk

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