Advanced Clinical Practice - MSc
The MSc Advanced Clinical Practice is a programme for multi-professional groups which aims to meet the contemporary challenges of advanced clinical practice. On successful completion of this programme you will be a recognised Advanced Clinical Practitioner (HEE, 2017) with an expert knowledge base, complex decision-making skills and clinical competencies for expanded autonomous scope of practice, the characteristics of which are shaped by the context in which you practice.
Month of entry
- September, March
Mode of study
- Part time
Location
Subject area
- Health and Rehabilitation, Midwifery, Nursing, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Radiography
Fees for 2026/27 academic year
-
UK - Part time £3,800 per year
Duration of study
- Part time - 3 years/Modular - Up to 5 years
This course is no longer accepting applications from international students for the 2025/26 academic year.
Why study Advanced Clinical Practice at Keele University?
Course summary
The MSc Advanced Clinical Practice pathway offers a broad range of contemporary options for prospective students and reflects the University mission statement in learning and teaching to deliver high quality education with an emphasis on interprofessional and multi-professional learning opportunities.
There are three formal progression points:
- Post Graduate Certificate in Advanced Health Assessment and Clinical Decision Making (60 Credits)
- Post Graduate Diploma in Advancing Clinical Practice (120 Credits)
- MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (180 Credits)
Applications via this course page are for the standard/HEE funded route only. If you are looking to apply via the apprenticeship route and have employer support for this please contact our apprenticeship team.
Accreditation and professional recognition
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. Welcome - Advanced Practice (hee.nhs.uk)
Course structure
The MSc Advanced Clinical Practice pathway is delivered by a team who have specialist knowledge in advanced practice and its four pillars. Approximately 80% of the curriculum for the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice is recognised as curriculum applicable to an Advanced Clinical Practitioner working in any health discipline and setting. The other 20% of the curriculum will be negotiated between Keele and yourself to consider the education, training and modules required to support your advanced clinical role and areas of interest. You can select modules from within the School of Nursing and Midwifery and the wider Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and other, indeed, relevant modules within the University and other Universities through negotiation with the Award Lead.
The allocation of study time is 150 hours per 15 credit module which usually amounts to 5 days of face to face teaching (or equivalent with online learning) and the remainder is personal study time. The teaching is often split into smaller 1 to 3 day blocks.
Modules
The module details given below are indicative, they are intended to provide you with an idea of the range of subjects that are taught to our current students. The modules that will be available for you to study in future years are prone to change as we regularly review our teaching to ensure that it is up-to-date and informed by the latest research and teaching methods, as well as student voice. The information presented is therefore not intended to be construed and/or relied upon as a definitive list of the modules available in any given year.
Year 1 Modules
Module 1: NUR-40120 Research Application in Clinical Practice
This module will provide you with the opportunity to understand the importance of best evidence in contemporary nursing and healthcare practice, and the ability to locate, evaluate, and use best evidence in developing aspects of the healthcare you deliver. It will also equip you with the ability to critically reflect upon clinical effectiveness while demonstrating creativity, reasoning, and evaluative reflection. The module combines a mixture of lecture presentations, small group tutorials, personal reading, and personal reflective exercises in order to increase your research-mindedness and confidence in your skills to improve clinical practice.
OR
HLT-40001 Research Methods in Health
Our Research Methods in Health module aims to develop your understanding of the philosophical and methodological bases of health and social research. You will gain critical appraisal skills, the knowledge to make informed and appropriate choices of research design and methods in addition to the methodological foundation for a research dissertation.
Module 2: NUR-40014 Health Assessment in Clinical Practice
This practice-focused module aims to equip you with the skills and knowledge to take a comprehensive patient history and a thorough physical and psychosocial assessment. The module is designed to augment and enhance assessment skills along with the ability to apply the findings from a comprehensive health assessment to clinical decision making that is relevant to your clinical role.
Module 3: NUR-40077 Advanced Decision Making
This module will challenge you to critically reflect on your current practice. The opportunity to explore the associated theoretical models will develop your expertise in consultation, clinical reasoning and clinical decision making within your field of practice.
Core Portfolio: NUR-40085 Clinical Competence for Advanced Clinical Practice
This module evidences close working with your clinical supervisor in order to demonstrate competency in the fours domains of advanced clinical practice, education, research; and clinical leadership and management. This is achieved by completing an online portfolio spanning the duration of the full MSc programme.
Year 2 Modules
Module 4: NUR-40033 Independent and Supplementary Prescribing for Allied Health Professionals
This module aims to equip you as an allied health professional to act within your scope of professional practice, to prescribe safely, appropriately and cost effectively. It also seeks to enhance your role within clinical practice to enable you to contribute further to the achievement of effective patient outcomes.
OR
NUR-40047 Independent and Supplementary Prescribing for Nurses and Midwives
This module aims to equip you as a nurse or midwife to prescribe safely, appropriately and cost effectively as an independent and supplementary prescriber. It also seeks to enhance your role within clinical practice, enabling you to contribute to effective patient outcomes and improved service delivery.
OR
PHA-40122 Independent Prescribing
The aims and learning outcomes for the course are those stipulated by the GPhC for a full Independent Prescribing programme. Following completion of the course, pharmacist independent prescribers will be able to demonstrate all 32 of the GPhC learning outcomes, by applying knowledge of therapeutics and prescribing to the condition(s) for which they intend to prescribe, using an evidence-based approach that takes into account recent research and current professional practice.
Module 5: NUR-40164 Applied Advanced Healthcare Leadership and Management
This faculty-wide module is designed to enable you to develop your understanding and awareness of advanced health care leadership and management to support the complex, demanding needs of current and future health sector environments. You will learn through a range of flexible blended learning modalities, within a supportive community of practice.
Module 6: Elective Modules
Core Portfolio: NUR-40085 Clinical Competence for Advanced Clinical Practice
This module evidences close working with your clinical supervisor in order to demonstrate competency in the fours domains of advanced clinical practice, education, research; and clinical leadership and management. This is achieved by completing an online portfolio spanning the duration of the full MSc programme.
Year 3 Modules
Module 7: NUR-40037 – Advanced Work-based Practice Project
This 60 credit, Level 7 module is one of two dissertation routes for students to complete their MSc Advanced Clinical Practice. This dissertation module is undertaken over an academic year and has been specifically structured to take into account a number of factors affecting education and professional role development for health-care professionals to embody an emphasis on the researching professional as a reflective practitioner.
Core Portfolio: NUR-40085 Clinical Competence for Advanced Clinical Practice
This module evidences close working with your clinical supervisor in order to demonstrate competency in the fours domains of advanced clinical practice, education, research; and clinical leadership and management. This is achieved by completing an online portfolio spanning the duration of the full MSc programme.
"I found the modules to be clinically and educationally challenging and also professionally rewarding. In addition, opportunities to work alongside specialist clinicians such as Emergency Department Consultants and other specialists has been an invaluable experience. The wide choice of modules has enabled me to specialise in areas of specific professional interest."
Entry requirements
The following section details our typical entry requirements for this course for a range of UK and international qualifications. If you don't see your qualifications listed, please contact us to find out if we can accept your qualifications.
Typical Offer:
UK: 2:2 degree in any subject and 3 years relevant experience in clinical practice
and
- Hold current first level Professional Registration with a relevant regulatory body
- Confirmed defined/protected Advanced Clinical Practice role for the trainee to be moved into on successful completion of the programme
- Appropriate named clinical supervisor to support trainee through programme of training
- Employer commitment to provide protected learning time for the trainee (1 day a week in University and 1 day a week for supported clinical practice)
Applicants that do not hold a first degree at 2:2 but have substantial and relevant clinical or prior study experience may also be considered
All applicants will be required to provide 1 employment reference and a CV.
You will also need: an English language qualification (see below)
International applicants: This course is part time and only available for students who do not require a visa. If you are unsure if this applies to you, please contact our admissions team at enquiries@keele.ac.uk
Existing practitioners
Existing Practitioners who are currently working in an Advanced Clinical Practice role and do not have a MSc 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 arrangements for existing Practitioners who do not have a full Masters 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.
Employers
All organisations supporting staff to undertake an Advanced Clinical Practice course will need to ensure as part of their workforce plans the role of Advanced Clinical Practitioner is embedded within their organisation structures. Once the trainee is a qualified Advanced Clinical Practitioner, there will need to be on-going support from the Trust.
If your application and aforementioned documentation are satisfactory you will be invited to an informal interview.
Application deadline for March 2026 start is 21 January 2026.
English language requirements
All of our courses require an English language qualification or test. For most students, this requirement can be met with a 4 or C in GCSE English. Please see our English Language guidance pages for further details, including English language test information for international students. For those students who require an English language test, this course requires a test from Group E.
References
Normally, you will need to provide at least one academic reference to support your application unless you have been out of study longer than two years. If it has been more than two years since you last studied on a degree-level programme, you will normally need to provide an employment reference instead. For more information about Academic References, please see our Postgraduate how to apply web pages.
Personal Statement/Statement of Purpose
Please see our Postgraduate how to apply web pages for guidance on what to include in your personal statement.
Recognition of Prior Learning
The Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is a process which enables applicants to receive recognition and formal credit for learning acquired in the past through formal study or work and life experiences.
RPL can also be requested for admission onto the start of a programme in lieu of the admission requirements. For more information, see our Recognition of Prior Learning web pages.
General information
The entry grades outlined in this section indicate the typical offer which would be made to candidates, along with any subject specific requirements. This is for general information only. Keele University reserves the right to vary offer conditions depending upon a candidate's application. For international students, find out how we work with approved agents as part of our admissions process.
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Postgraduate funding and scholarships
Fees
- Modular (up to 5 years) charged on a modular basis. Prices can be found here.
Funding
Whether you're continuing from undergraduate study or returning to education, our dedicated financial support team is here to help.
Please note, typically students on the programme are supported financially via their employer.
Please note, if your course offers a January start date, the January 2026 start date falls in the 2025/26 academic year. Please see the tuition fees archive for the 2025/26 fees.
Planning your funding
It's important to plan carefully for your funding before you start your course. Please be aware that not all postgraduate courses and not all students are eligible for the UK government postgraduate loans and, in some cases, you would be expected to source alternative funding yourself. If you need support researching your funding options, please contact our financial support team.
Scholarships
We are committed to rewarding excellence and potential. Please visit our scholarships and bursaries webpage for more information.
Funding can also be sourced from Health Education England and via an Apprenticeship route.
For continuing students, fees will increase annually by RPIX, with a maximum cap of 5% per year.
Additional costs
Teaching, learning and assessment
In your programme you will sometimes be expected to role play and engage in simulated clinical scenarios with other students, such as the practice and observation of practical skills in physical contact with other students. For some specific practices, this may necessitate modification of dress - e.g., to shorts and t-shirt. These activities will be conducted in a professional, safe, respectful and culturally sensitive way, under the supervision of academic staff, according to a defined protocol.
Assessment
A variety of assessment methods are used, including essays, task-based assignments, group presentations, assessment of communication skills and a portfolio. Each method of assessment is supported by clear criteria for marking.
In addition, the modular assessments you will also complete a Clinical Competency Handbook and Portfolio throughout the duration of the programme. These documents should illustrate and map your progress towards becoming an Advanced Clinical Practitioner and demonstrate the knowledge, skills and outcomes across all the four competency domains evidencing that you have achieved a level of independence relating to each competency.
