To become an accredited advanced practitioner, you will need to complete either a taught or ePortfolio route. The availability of the ePortfolio route is not open ended; its continuing availability will be dependent on the remaining number of existing, experienced advanced practitioners who need to be recognised as such.
Taught Route
Many Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) across the Midlands offer the 3-year (part-time) MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice. Depending on which MSc course you choose, this will start annually in semester 1 (from September) and some courses also have a semester 2 intake (from January). To search for a list of accredited programmes please visit the centre for advancing practice website here.
There are three funding routes to completing the taught MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice:
- Apprenticeship Route: This is a funded MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice. The tuition fees are funded through the employing organisation’s apprenticeship levy and £2,704 per annum supervision support is funded by Health Education England.
- Commissioned Route: This is a funded MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice. Tuition fees of £2667 per annum and £2,704 per annum supervision support are funded by Health Education England.
- Top Up Route: This is a trainee place for those who already have relevant credits towards the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice. Currently the top up rate paid for tuition fees is at a rate of £45 per credit.
Above is our standard offer for funding advanced practice training, however we do occasionally offer enhanced funding offers for certain specialities on a time limited basis and these are communicated separately to relevant organisations.
Funding for any of these routes cannot be accessed individually it needs to be planned in collaboration with your employer and Advanced Practice Lead/ Education Lead.
To secure funding you firstly need to discuss with your employer that they wish to develop you as a trainee Advanced Practitioner, and they have workforce development plans for a prospective Advanced Practitioner role for you on completion of training. Once that workforce development need has been established, to access funding you will need to liaise with your employing organisation’s Advanced Practitioner lead or education and training lead (or for primary care, the Advanced Practitioner lead or education and training lead within your Primary Care Training Hub).
These are the general requirements of funding that need to be in place:
- Funding is only for programmes of academic study in advanced clinical practice for staff who are already registered as nurses, midwives, pharmacists, or AHPs to train as an Advanced Practitioner via a MSc Advanced Practice course. Please note the funding cannot be used to support training for First Contact Practitioner (FCP) roles, such as those within the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS).
- Before using commissioning funding, organisations should firstly consider utilising levy funding and accessing MSc advanced practice apprenticeship courses, which are now widely available at some universities across the Midlands region.
- The individual should be undergoing advanced practice training and education in line with the requirements of the HEE’s (2017) Multi-professional framework for advanced clinical practice in England.
- Appropriate workplace clinical support, supervision and assessment to be provided by employers as required by the selected NHS England advanced clinical practice education programme.
- An advanced practice training post will be provided throughout the trainee’s education period.
- The employer should have in place a clear workforce development plan for the advanced practice role to demonstrate that it is one of the organisational priorities in line with their service requirements, so there is guaranteed employment in an advanced practice post on qualification by the sponsoring employer or within the Training Hub area (in the case of primary care).
- The employer commits to providing a suitable learning environment for the advanced practice trainees, in line with the requirements of the NHS England’s Quality Framework.
- Sufficient study leave should be provided to enable timetabled attendance at university to avoid advanced practice trainees having to take either unpaid leave or annual leave for university days.
- Suitable arrangements must be in place for supervision of advanced practice trainees in correspondence with the requirements of NHS England’s (2020) guidance for Workplace Supervision for Advanced Clinical Practice: An integrated multi-professional approach for practitioner development and the NHS England Minimum standards for supervision document
- The employer must ensure that there is an appropriately qualified supervisor identified for each trainee advanced practitioner.
- Through accepting NHS England funding, you are confirming that the expectations outlined will be met for all trainees employed by your organisation / within your training hub area who are receiving NHS England funding for advanced practice training. Where these conditions are not met, funding may be discontinued and where there is a pattern within an employer / training hub area of advanced practice trainees not being supported appropriately, advanced practice funding may be withdrawn from the employer. The provision of this funding for supporting advanced practice training will be evaluated and funded organisations will be asked for monitoring information as part of this planned evaluation process.
- You should also keep the Regional Faculty and Commissioning Team informed of any changes regarding your funded students throughout the year, for example, trainees that leave or take a break during their programme of study.
ePortfolio Route
The e-Portfolio (supported) Route is designed to enable recognition with the Centre for Advancing Practice of existing, experienced advanced practitioners, regularly working clinically in advanced practitioner roles, who have already completed their advanced practice experiential and educational learning before 2017 when HEE’s Multi-professional framework for advanced clinical practice in England was published.
Application for this route is voluntary and there are three main stages of the ePortfolio (supported) Route:
- Expressions of interest and application
- Learning need analysis (LNA)
- Completion of an e-Portfolio
Eligibility Criteria
- Existing advanced practitioner employed in an advanced practice clinical role in an NHS commissioned service (confirmed by advanced practice lead or equivalent)
- Employer support for completion needed
The completion of the e-Portfolio (supported) Route is over a 12-month period, working with an education supervisor from a partner education provider, usually the advanced practice team from an allocated university
Further information including dates for the next round of applications can be found on the ePortfolio webpage.
Advanced Practice in Primary Care
If you are working in primary care, the requirements for funding are the same as above, however you will need to contact your local training hub.