Are you a health professional working in a mental health setting with a desire to become an advanced clinical practitioner? This short course focuses on developing your knowledge and understanding of how to assess the physical health needs of your patient group. You’ll explore the management of assessments and the referral process.

Key information

Award:

AdvDip(CPD)

Mode of Study:

Part-time

Duration:

15 weeks

Location:

University of Bolton

Start date:

To be confirmed

Course Details

This stand-alone professional development course aims to develop your understanding of the physical health needs of patients in a mental health setting. It’s ideal if you’re an aspiring advanced clinical practitioner (ACP) working in mental health as the course has a clinical focus and offers the opportunity to develop skills required for this role.

Our experienced and knowledgeable team will support you to gain an understanding of the need for robust physical health assessments within your speciality, and the necessary skill set to manage these and the referral process, where appropriate. You’ll explore the perception of people with mental health and learning disability needs and how you can improve their physical healthcare needs. The course will emphasise how a patient’s mental health may impact their physical health and focus on how you can assess patients to make an appropriate diagnosis. We’ll guide you as you learn about common assessment tools and models and the principles of health education and health promotion.

We’ll cover the management of physical health needs and the importance of robust consultation, decision making and therapy, including networking and referrals. This will be linked to relevant legal policy and ethical aspects specific to mental healthcare and relating to consent and mental capacity. Evidence-based practice and clinical governance will underpin the development of your knowledge and skills, and we’ll emphasise the importance of professional accountability and responsibility.

We’ll also support you to learn how to develop services that consider the physical needs of the mental health population and gain knowledge of how to make recommendations for practice development.

The module will be delivered in collaboration between the University of Bolton and expert clinical practitioners from practice.

To benefit from studying this course, you should already a health professional with a basic understanding and some clinical experience of working within mental health.

Highlights

Our dedicated academic team brings extensive health and social care experience to the course content. Along with their passion for service excellence in mental health settings, they’re also currently engaged in highly relevant research, which means they can add valuable context and insight to your learning.
The course is designed to provide the flexibility to fit in with busy home and working lives.
As you study this course, we’ll encourage you to develop the skills, values and behaviours so popular with employers. These include action planning, personal impact and confidence, self-awareness, social and ethical responsibility, problem-solving, initiative and communication skills.
The course is part of a professional development framework, and you can use the credits you’ll gain by completing the course successfully towards the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (Mental Health).

Key Features

The University of Bolton has been offering high-quality courses designed to meet the health and social care sector’s needs for over 30 years, so we have the knowledge and experience to anticipate and respond to changes in the sector.
Our courses and programmes respond directly to the requirements of the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF), which is at the heart of the career and pay progression aspect of Agenda for Change.
We review the course curriculum regularly to ensure we include and apply contemporary theories.
On successful completion of this course, you will be awarded an Advanced Professional Development qualification in Advanced Physical Skills Assessment in a Mental Health Setting worth 20 credits at Level HE7.

To undertake this course, you must offer current professional registration as a health or social care practitioner with evidence of post-registration experience of professional practice; for example, registered nurse, assistant practitioner, allied health professional or paramedic. A first degree relevant to your health or social care practice is desirable and/or recent study at Level HE6.
Current experience of working in a mental health setting is essential for this course.
You may be required to attend an interview and/or provide a portfolio of work.
Please note that this course is subject to the University of Bolton's Fitness to Practise procedure.

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.

This course offers academic progression in the specialist field of physical skills assessment in mental health settings.

Course fees

Home students starting this course in the first year will be required to pay a Home fee of £800 for the academic year 2023/24.

Overseas students starting this course in the first year will be required to pay a Overseas fee of £800 for the academic year 2023/24.

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.

Bursaries

Click here for more information about the scholarships and bursaries available to University of Bolton students.

For details of how to apply for this course, please choose your status from the options below:

Please contact Admissions by telephone on 01204 903903 or email enquiries@bolton.ac.uk

Admissions
University of Bolton
Deane Road
Bolton, BL3 5AB
United Kingdom

Tel: 01204 903903
Email: enquiries@bolton.ac.uk

International applications are not possible for this course

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.

This advanced professional development course adopts a blended learning approach, using the principles of problem-based learning to develop your enquiry skills and place this in the context of patient care.

You’ll be introduced to topics through keynote lectures that will involve a mixture of theory and case-based discussions. Following the lectures, you’ll be expected to explore each topic in greater depth through self-directed learning. You’ll be encouraged to consider current research evidence and use this to inform your practice.

In terms of assessment, you can expect written assignments, clinical case submissions and practical skills assessment through objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) assessment.

Modules

Advanced Physical Skills Assessment in a Mental Health Setting

Assessment methods

Level	Assesment method
Level one	Coursework 100%

Learning activities

Level	Learning activity
Level one	Guided independent study 75%, Scheduled learning and teaching activities 25%

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.