University of Bolton, Deane Road, Bolton. BL3 5AB
“At the University of Bolton, we take great pride in providing a quality, supportive learning environment for our students.”
Professor George E Holmes DL | President & Vice Chancellor
“...tutors are very supportive and you’re not just a student ID number, at this university you are an individual with a name.”
Ellisse Vernon | BSc (Hons) Adult Nursing
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Our HCPC-approved degree apprenticeship allows you to invest in your workforce by combining university education, work-based learning and professional development. You can offer apprentices rewarding careers as registered Operating Department Practitioners. While working as a valuable part of your team, apprentices can gain the skills and knowledge needed to provide a high standard of patient-focused care during the anaesthetic, surgical and recovery phases of a patient’s surgical journey.
Award:
BSc (Hons)
Mode of Study:
Full-time
Duration:
3 years
Location:
University of Bolton
Start date:
To be confirmed
The University of Bolton's Level 6 BSc (Hons) Operating Department Practice (Degree Apprenticeship) is designed to develop highly specialised healthcare professionals that will perfectly match your organisation's current and future needs. You can offer structured on-the-job training and an internationally recognised qualification, helping you to attract the best new talent and retain valued staff through career progression. Integrating study into the normal working week will allow your apprentices to put their new skills and understanding into practice immediately, benefitting your organisation without delay.
Striking a balance between the technical and scientific aspects of perioperative care and the softer skills that support communication, wellbeing and caring for the patient, study at the University complements learning in the workplace. This course focuses on helping your apprentices learn to provide skilled assistance to surgeons and anaesthetists and work alongside nursing and healthcare colleagues to deliver excellent individualised care and support during anaesthesia, surgery and recovery. We’ll guide them as they gain the skills, knowledge and behaviours to respond to a patient’s needs throughout their surgical experience and perioperative care.
Our dynamic and multi-disciplinary course team will work to prepare your apprentices to manage the care of patients scheduled for routine procedures as well as respond to life-threatening emergencies. We aim to support apprentices to develop the core knowledge, skills and behaviours required to work with patients of all ages in operating theatres and other perioperative environments.
If you’re looking for undergraduate-level training in this subject area but don’t work for an employer offering apprenticeships, please see our related courses section for details of study opportunities that don’t require current employment.
The course is approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
On successful completion of the programme, your apprentices may apply to the HCPC to join the register for Operating Department Practitioners (ODPs).
Whilst studying this course, apprentices are not currently required to register as a member with the HCPC. However, they must follow the HCPC’s standards of proficiency and standards of conduct, performance and ethics. Apprentices will be required to sign a declaration of ongoing fitness to practise at regular intervals during their studies.
After qualifying as an ODP, your apprentices will need to be committed to learning and always keep their skills and knowledge up-to-date. To maintain their registration to practice with the HCPC, they will need to continue to meet the HCPC’s standards of proficiency, and conduct, performance and ethics standards.
Where changes are made to material information contained in this course description or a decision is taken to suspend a course between the offer of admissions and enrolment, we will inform applicants at the earliest possible opportunity and will outline the various options available to the applicant.
Operating department practice is an exciting, fast-changing field with opportunities to work across different surgical and anaesthesia specialities. The BSc (Hons) Operating Department Practice (Degree Apprenticeship) programme is designed to meet the Operating Department Practitioner (Integrated Degree) Level 6 Apprenticeship Standard (ST0582). This highly practical degree apprenticeship aims to develop clinical knowledge, skills and behaviours for working in operating theatres and wider perioperative settings.
After graduation, and once your apprentice has registered as an Operating Department Practitioner (ODP) with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), they will be able to take responsibility for a patient’s welfare and personalise their care. They will be qualified to work as part of a multidisciplinary team in any of the three phases of perioperative care – anaesthesia, surgery or recovery – or in a role that combines all these areas.
Registered ODPs are primarily employed in operating theatres but increasingly work in other healthcare environments. Opportunities may arise in intensive care units, transplant teams, pre-assessment clinics, obstetric units, resuscitation teams, orthopaedic clinics, patient transfer and day surgery units.
After further training and development, registered ODPs may prove valuable in areas such as management, education, clinical research and advanced practice. Experienced ODPs can take further training approved by the Royal College of Surgeons to work as surgical care practitioners. This would qualify them to complete certain surgical procedures under the supervision of a consultant surgeon.
Apprentices will need to be employed by your organisation for a minimum of 30 hours per week. Your organisation will also need to commit to sponsoring apprentices to complete this qualification.
For further information on how your organisation can access funds to support apprentices, please e-mail apprentices@bolton.ac.uk.
Whether you’re an employer, employee or school leaver, please visit our Apprenticeship web page for support and advice regarding apprenticeships.
As an international student you are not allowed to study this course because of the restrictions on your visa.
We offer a wide range of full-time courses in lots of different subjects, many of our courses start in September and January. If you would like to see what courses are available please visit our Course Search.
Apprentices will not be expected to pay tuition fees towards this programme. If your organisation has a wage bill of more than £3 million per annum, then it may be able to fund this apprenticeship through its Apprenticeship Levy contributions. If your organisation does not pay the levy, it will be eligible for government support to fund apprenticeships. This support, called co-investment, covers 95% of the apprenticeship's tuition fees, with your organisation funding the remaining 5% of the fees.
Important note regarding tuition fees for the 2022-2023 academic year: EU nationals who meet residency requirements (have settled or pre-settled status) may be eligible for 'Home' fee status. If you do not meet these residency requirements, overseas fees will apply. Irish citizens living in the UK or Ireland will be eligible for 'Home' fee status under the Common Travel Area arrangement. Please read the student finance for EU students web page on www.gov.uk for information.
The fees for a student's course of study will be set for the normal duration of that course subject only to inflationary increases – measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded in March each year to take effect for subsequent start dates.
For details of how to apply for this course, please choose your status from the options below:
Please contact the programme leader for details of the application procedure. You can find their name, email address and phone number in the Programme Contacts section of this page.
For support and advice regarding apprenticeships, please visit our Apprenticeship web page.
As an international student you are not allowed to study this course because of the restrictions on your visa.
We offer a wide range of full-time courses in lots of different subjects, many of our courses start in September and January. If you would like to see what courses are available please visit our Course Search.
Operating department practice is a multi-faceted discipline, so we use a wide range of teaching and learning methods. These are designed to fully engage apprentices, helping them develop the skills, knowledge, self-awareness, and behaviours essential for success in this field. Learning focuses on your workplace environment – your apprentices will spend the majority of their normal working week in practice gaining on-the-job knowledge and experience. They will also be required to devote a minimum of six hours of their time per week to university learning and independent study (classified as off-the-job training).
As well as attending timetabled lectures, tutorials, discussions, demonstrations and computer-aided learning sessions, apprentices will also be expected to allocate significant time to independent and self-directed studies. For example, building a portfolio of evidence, background reading, revisiting practical work, preparing for seminars, working on assignments and revising for exams will support their timetabled learning and develop good habits for lifelong learning. Our friendly and supportive tutors will be here to guide them and will gladly help them devise an independent study regime focused on their individual development needs. Learning will also be supported by the University's virtual learning environment, Moodle.
Your organisation will need to provide each apprentice with a workplace mentor to support their development. They will also benefit from regular visits from a university tutor. The workplace mentor, university tutor and apprentice will work together to create an individual learning plan.
For the degree element of this programme, we assess each apprentice’s performance through a strategic blend of assignments, practical assessments, projects, oral presentations (including viva voce) and formal examinations. Some assessments contribute to their final module marks, while others are designed to help them identify their strengths and weaknesses, and where they need to seek extra support from course tutors.
In addition to the assessments associated with the degree programme, apprentices will undertake the end point assessment (EPA), at the end of the apprenticeship period. Apprentices are also required to develop learning logs/professional development plans and build up a skills portfolio in preparation for the EPA.
The modules listed below may be a mixture of compulsory and optional. You may not have the opportunity to study all the modules shown as part of the course.
Level | Assesment method |
---|---|
Level one | Coursework 40%, Practical exams 40%, Written exams 20% |
Level two | Coursework 40%, Practical exams 40%, Written exams 20% |
Level three | Coursework 40%, Practical exams 60% |
Level | Learning activity |
---|---|
Level one | Guided independent study 9%, Placement/study abroad 71%, Scheduled learning and teaching activities 20% |
Level two | Guided independent study 9%, Placement/study abroad 71%, Scheduled learning and teaching activities 20% |
Level three | Guided independent study 9%, Placement/study abroad 71%, Scheduled learning and teaching activities 20% |
Disclaimer
The university will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver your course as described in its published material and the programme specification for the academic year in which you begin your course. The university considers changes to courses very carefully and the university will minimise any changes. Please be aware that our courses are subject to review on an ongoing basis and changes may be necessary due to legitimate staffing, financial, regulatory and academic reasons. The content of course modules and mode of associated assessments may be updated on an annual basis. This is to ensure that all modules are up-to-date and responsive to employment and sector needs. The published course material and the programme specification contain indicative ‘optional modules’ that may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control. For this reason, we cannot guarantee to run any specific optional module.
The academic staff detailed above teach across a range of courses in this subject area and may not teach on this course specifically.
C.Rich@bolton.ac.uk
+44 (0)1204 903208
G.Lewis@bolton.ac.uk
J.Wroe@bolton.ac.uk
+44 (0)1204 903705
N.Greenlees@bolton.ac.uk
apprentices@bolton.ac.uk
+44 (0)1204 903940
University of Bolton
University of Bolton
University of Bolton