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Advanced Clinical Practice (Paediatrics)
Division of Nursing and Midwifery, Health Sciences School,
Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health

Course description
This course is for experienced, registered health and care practitioners delivering advanced clinical practice, who wish to learn advanced skills in the management of episodes of care for their client group. It can be studied either as a standard masters degree or via an apprenticeship route.
Paediatric Advanced Clinical Practitioners (ACPs) work with babies, children, young people (CYP) from 0 to 18 years of age and their families in a range of settings across primary and secondary care. Paediatric ACPs can undertake acute or ongoing assessment of health and social needs, manage children with complex needs and act as senior decision makers.
The course encompasses the four pillars of advanced practice: clinical practice, leadership and management, education and research. On successful completion of the programme, you’ll demonstrate the core advanced practice capabilities and paediatric clinical competence. The course includes a clinical leadership module, which ensures that service design, delivery and patient safety remain at the forefront of your clinical working.
As an ACP, you’ll be a dynamic practitioner making advanced decisions about practice, leadership and management. The programme content is delivered by a range of expert practitioners and experienced academics. A dynamic combination of underpinning knowledge and supervised clinical practice will ensure that you have the capabilities to work as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner on successful completion of the programme.
Applying (non-apprentice route)
Before you complete your application, please ensure you have been interviewed and secured a trainee ACP post as this will ensure you have the correct funding and supervision in place.
To apply you will need to download and complete our “Checklist”. Once completed this, along with all the required information should be uploaded to your application. Failure to do this will mean your application will NOT be considered.
PLEASE NOTE APPLICATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY 31 JULY 2023. The whole application process can take up to 6 weeks for an offer to be made. Please DO NOT contact us before that time period has elapsed for a decision.
HEE 4 PILLARS (PROFESSIONAL FRAMEWORK)
Apprentice route
The Advanced Clinical Practice (Apprentice) apprenticeship is a part-time integrated three-year degree apprenticeship masters programme. ACP apprentices are employed by their organisation for a minimum of 30 hours per week to undertake a job with training to recognised industry standards.
Modules
The content of our courses is reviewed annually to make sure it's up-to-date and relevant. Individual modules are occasionally updated or withdrawn. This is in response to discoveries through our world-leading research; funding changes; professional accreditation requirements; student or employer feedback; outcomes of reviews; and variations in staff or student numbers. In the event of any change we'll consult and inform students in good time and take reasonable steps to minimise disruption. We are no longer offering unrestricted module choice. If your course included unrestricted modules, your department will provide a list of modules from their own and other subject areas that you can choose from.
Open days
An open day gives you the best opportunity to hear first-hand from our current students and staff about our courses. You'll find out what makes us special.
Duration
3 years, part-time
Teaching
You’ll be taught via lectures, skills workshops, simulations, seminars, case-based discussions, supervised clinical practice, tripartite reviews and reflection.
Assessment
There are a varied range of assessments, which include case presentations, reports, examinations, OSCEs, oral presentations, essays and a specialist electronic portfolio.
Your career
After successfully completing your course, there are a wide variety of roles you can pursue, including:
- Nurse consultant
- Research nurse
- Matron
- University teacher
- Transport lead
Past students have gone on to work in a variety of health settings such as the NHS, The Resuscitation Council and the Department of Health, as well as UK universities.
Entry requirements
You will:
- have a minimum 2:2 undergraduate honours degree in nursing or midwifery which is regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council
- have a minimum of a grade 4/C in GCSE English Language and Maths or equivalent (please upload evidence of this to your application)
- be a qualified, UK-registered healthcare professional, working in the pathway-specific area for a minimum of two years
- hold a current relevant employment contract in the pathway-specific setting for the duration of the programme for a minimum of 30 hours per week
- be able to provide evidence of support from a manager and a lead consultant/general practitioner
Overall IELTS score of 7 with a minimum of 6.5 in writing and a minimum of 7 in each other component.
If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the department.
Fees and funding
Apprenticeship route
Full funding for the cost of the apprenticeship programme fee is available for levy-paying employers (up to the relevant funding cap).
Partial funding for the cost of the apprenticeship programme fee is available for non levy-paying employers (up to the relevant funding cap). The government will fund up to 90 per cent of the apprenticeship programme fees
MMedSci
Apply
MMedsci: apply for postgraduate study using our Postgraduate Online Application Form.
Apprenticeship route: you'll need to apply using our Alternative Routes and Programmes Online Application form.
Contact
hss-admissions@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 2030
Any supervisors and research areas listed are indicative and may change before the start of the course.
Recognition of professional qualifications: from 1 January 2021, in order to have any UK professional qualifications recognised for work in an EU country across a number of regulated and other professions you need to apply to the host country for recognition. Read information from the UK government and the EU Regulated Professions Database.