The MSc Advanced Clinical Practitioner Apprenticeship has been developed in response to the needs of stakeholders who require an advanced clinical practitioner who will be able to assess, diagnose and where appropriate prescribe as well as ensure that care and management of the patient is delivered and evaluated. As a student on this course, you will complete a range of challenging and stimulating modules that will help you advance your knowledge and skills and achieve success. I look forward to working with you, and please get in contact if you need any support.

Ollie Phipps
Course Director

Course Welcome

The first time we will meet you will be during one of our course welcome sessions during w.c 14 September 2026.

These will be online using Microsoft Teams. Please see below for the times and dates and links to join the sessions.

You only need to attend one of the below sessions.

Session Date & Time MS Teams Link to Join the Session
Session 1 Weds 16 Sept 12.30pm https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/331829030439339?p=CgTJklpQrnJOehpIT7
Session 2 Thurs 17 Sept 9am https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/378957695947617?p=Vj0OT88dP2Isz4Kaai
Session 3 Thurs 17 Sept 7pm https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/318568789021513?p=ldklP1gH3W1QICZA0E

You are also invited to join an online Library & Learning Resources induction with our Library team on Tuesday 15 September from 5pm - 6pm. You can access the session using this link - Library & Learning Resources Session | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams

For those studying at our Canterbury campus you are welcome to join our Welcome to Postgraduate Study at CCCU session on Tuesday 15 September from 12pm to 2pm in Lg16 (Laud building). This session will not contain any course specific information.

Key Dates

Academic Calendar: Trimesters [15 Week]

View key dates for this Academic Calendar for 2026-27 including when teaching starts and finishes and when you break for holidays.

Your Teaching Timetable

To help you plan your first few weeks, you can view an overview of the teaching activities for your course.

Canterbury Campus - View your first trimester teaching timetable

Medway Campus - View your first trimester teaching timetable.

On a mobile device, click the arrow next to “Search” at the top right of the page to view your timetable.

If your course is taught in groups, the overview will show activities for all groups. You will only need to attend sessions for your allocated group.

Once teaching begins, your individual timetable and group allocation will be available in MyTimetable provided you have completed online registration and created your computing account.

Welcome

The MSC Advanced Clinical Practitioner Apprenticeship will offer you a course of study that has been developed to ensure that on completion you have reached the required educational level of an advanced clinical practitioner (ACP).

The successful completion of the MSc Advanced clinical practice does not mean that you are able to work as an ACP, you must also meet your employer’s requirements through completion of their bespoke competencies, supported to enhance your scope of professional practice, to be able to be classified as an ACP.

The modules on the course will follow nationally prescribed guidance on the ACP role. The course at Canterbury Christ Church University is accredited by the Centre for Advancing Practice.

Please note that if your profession does not allow you to prescribe you are still able to complete the course and work as an ACP. Therefore, you will undertake modules that will enhance your role.

This course is based on developing your role to be able to fulfil this advanced practice specification. In addition, the course ensures that the 4 pillars of ACP are considered: Clinical practice, management/ leadership, education, and research. These 4 aspects are embedded within the modules.

We would encourage you to review the course structure and module options via your course page before you arrive.

Getting started

Pre-course Tasks

Before the course begins take some time to familiarize yourself with the four pillars of Advanced Clinical Practice. 

 You could also look at the NHS England ACP website as well as the Multi-professional framework for Advanced Clinical Practice. Think about your own learning outcomes and how you plan to achieve them. 

Finally it would be useful if you have identified a co-ordinating education supervisor who can support you during the course. This should be a senior clinician. 

Registration

Once you have completed the application process you will receive further information from us regarding how to complete your registration and how to set up your computing account.

Registration generally opens several weeks before the course start date. You can only register once you have received an email titled: "Invitation to online registration". You will not be able to register earlier, so please check your emails regularly.

Please ensure that you action any emails as soon as you receive these - we recommend that you regularly check your junk folder as these emails may be directed there.

Without completing your registration and creating your computing account you will not be able to access our Virtual Learning Environment, Blackboard, which is essential to your participation in the course.

Your Must Do Tasks

Once you have been invited to register for your course, there are some key tasks you'll need to complete to make sure you are ready to become a CCCU student.

Registration invitations are sent towards the end of August. We'll send yours to the email address you used when you applied, so please check this inbox regularly to make sure you don't miss any important information.

Pre-course reading

Please make yourself aware of:

Further Reading

  • Diamond-Fox, S., Hill, B., Stone, S., Gardner, N., McCrea, C., Roberts, A. (2023) The Advanced Practitioner in Acute, Emergency and Critical Care. Wiley. London.
  • Higgins C (2007) Understanding laboratory investigations: for nurses and health professionals. Blackwell Publishing. UK 
  • Hill, B. (2021) Non-Medical Prescribing at a Glance. Wiley. London.
  • Hill, B. & Diamond-Fox, S. (2022) Advanced Practice at a Glance. Wiley. London.
  • Huether, S.E.; McCance, K.L. (2016) Understanding Pathophysiology. 6th edition. St Louis: Mosby. 
  • Kumar, P. & Clark, M. (2012) Clinical Medicine. 8th ed. London: Elsevier 
  • Japp A, Robertson C ( 2013) Macleads's Clinical Diagnosis. Churchill Livingstone . London. 
  • Llewelyn, H.; Hock, A.A.; Lewis, K.; et al. (2014). Oxford Handbook of Clinical Diagnosis. 3rd edition. Oxford University Press 
  • Lovell, B.; Lander, M.;& Murch, N. (2020) Clinical Skills, Diagnostics & Reasoning. Oxford: Scion 
  • Peate, I., Hill, B. & Diamond-Fox, S. (2023) The Advanced Practitioner. Wiley. London.
  • Phipps, O. & Lugg, J. (2016). Rapid Emergency & Unscheduled Care. Wiley Blackwell. 
  • Phipps, O, Setchfield, I, Diamond-Fox, S. & Hill, B. (2024) Pathophysiology, Diagnostics, and Decisioning Making in Advanced Practice. Wiley. London. (In progress).
  • Talley N J, O Connor S ( 2014) Clinical examination: A systematic guide to physical diagnosis. 7th Ed. Elsevier. London. 

Contact details

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