Enhanced Practice PGCert

This module is designed to deepen profession-specific reasoning, decision-making and evidence-based approaches when working at a person- and people-level of influence within your practice. Utilising a competency-based learning and teaching strategy, you will be supported to further develop your thinking and application of evidence-based decision-making, drawing on emerging models of practice, evidence and technology to lead the delivery of personalised complex care to individuals and contribute to service-level approaches to enable sustainable outcomes that address health inequalities. On successful completion of this module, you should be able to:

• evidence profession-specific reasoning and decision-making approaches to deliver complex personalised care at a person and people level within your service
• conduct evidence-informed assessment and intervention approaches to address complex health inequalities within your service context
• critically evaluate the social, cultural and political influences that impact on the outcome of service delivery within your profession.
• identify profession-specific solutions that will enhance the outcome of the delivery of health and care within your service
• identify and evaluate effective mechanisms to enable sustainable change for your service.

Those studying this module will be taught in their professional groups:

Nursing

This profession-specific module is not about becoming a specialist nurse. Rather, it’s about improving your ability to care for anyone you encounter, whatever their background, age or circumstance. The module is designed to allow you to sharpen your communication, assessment and clinical reasoning skills in ways that reflect the real complexity of modern nursing enhancing your ability to provide more informed, person-centred care in your day-to-day practice.

Enhanced Practice offers a recognised platform for continued development, one that values the depth and breadth of nursing expertise. It supports nurses to lead with influence: in multidisciplinary teams, across services and through quality improvement. Learning is structured around the four pillars of nursing: clinical practice, leadership, education and research.

For the nursing workforce, this course offers more than just a qualification. It offers recognition of mastery, depth and impact. It enables nurses to grow, remain in practice and make a difference where it matters most. It’s about becoming the nurse people look to in moments of uncertainty and complexity, and the colleague others turn to for guidance, assurance and leadership in challenging times.

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Occupational Therapy

Enhanced Practice in Occupational Therapy represents a transformative step for the profession, bridging the gap between preceptorship, foundation and advanced levels of clinical practice. With a profession-specific focus, develop enhanced capabilities while focusing on the broader knowledge and skills required to deliver evidence-informed, occupation-focused care in complex health and social care environments.

This pathway is designed to support your profession-specific reasoning, decision-making and occupation-based approaches when working at a person and people level of influence within their practice. Utilising competency-based learning and teaching strategy, you will be supported to further develop your thinking and application of occupation-based decision-making, drawing on emerging models of practice, evidence and technology to lead the delivery of personalised complex care to individuals and contribute to service level approaches to enable sustainable outcomes that address health inequalities. Emphasising inclusion and collaboration, further develop the skills and attributes of inclusive leadership, equipping you with the ability to use coaching/mentoring models to support and inspire others to learn and grow.

The pathway offers you the opportunity to apply your learning across a choice of four pathways: older people, children and young people, mental health, and social care, exploring the impact of health inequalities and population health in contemporary occupational therapy practice.

With occupation firmly at the heart of decision-making, the module empowers you to integrate extended clinical reasoning, formulation and decision-making in practice, enabling you to work across and within complex pathways of care.

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Physiotherapy

Designed to complement enhanced clinical skills, this module focuses on the broader skills required to deliver equitable, evidence-informed and person-centred care in increasingly complex health environments. Explore how health inequalities affect service users and learn to adapt assessments and interventions to meet diverse needs, for example, addressing socioeconomic. This is particularly relevant across all pathways, for example, addressing socioeconomic barriers in musculoskeletal rehabilitation or tailoring respiratory care for underserved populations.

This module also equips practitioners to critically evaluate the social, cultural, and political influences shaping service delivery. Whether navigating policy changes in workplace health or advocating for inclusive care in paediatric settings, physiotherapists will gain tools to lead meaningful change. Through sessions on quality improvement, coaching, and digital innovation, identify profession-specific solutions that enhance outcomes and sustainability.

By fostering reflective practice, leadership and innovation, this module empowers physiotherapists to become agents of transformation within their services. It supports the development of enhanced-level capabilities that are universally applicable across the profession, helping support better care, greater equity and service resilience.

Hybrid

Podiatry

Enhanced practice in podiatry represents a transformative step for the profession, bridging the gap between preceptorship, foundation and advanced levels of clinical practice. With a profession-specific focus, develop enhanced capabilities in managing at-risk caseloads through complex vascular assessment and management approaches, dermatology and wound care expertise, and applied musculoskeletal intervention. Through behavioural change in leadership and quality improvement, support multidisciplinary teams to improve patient outcomes and contribute to more sustainable, efficient healthcare delivery.

An Enhanced Practice Podiatrist integrates extended clinical reasoning, leadership and evidence-based practice to manage complex foot and lower limb conditions. They work across traditional boundaries, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, leading service improvements and supporting population health initiatives. This level of practice is underpinned by the four pillars of clinical practice: clinical practice, leadership and management, education, and research.

For the podiatry profession, Enhanced Practice offers a clear, structured career progression pathway that recognises and values expertise. It supports workforce transformation by enabling podiatrists to take on extended roles, thereby reducing pressure on other parts of the NHS and improving patient access to timely care.

This Enhanced Practice aims to deliver better outcomes for patients while furthering professional growth. It ensures podiatrists are not only clinically excellent but also influential leaders and educators within the healthcare system.

Hybrid

Optional

Older adults living with frailty often have complex, multi-dimensional health and social care needs. This frailty pathway is designed to empower healthcare professionals with the specialist knowledge and skills needed to assess, manage and support individuals living with frailty effectively and compassionately.

Develop a deeper understanding of how to deliver evidence-based, personalised, holistic, multidisciplinary care that focuses on what matters to the individual. Gain the knowledge, skills and behaviours to educate others, to lead in clinical practice, to drive innovation and to transform frailty services to deliver better care.

Taught by an experienced multidisciplinary team, this module offers more than just academic growth; it’s a gateway to expanding your professional network, sparking future collaborations and unlocking new career opportunities across the health and social care landscape. Become a catalyst for change in frailty care.

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Optional

This module offers a rich, evidence-based and person-centred exploration of rehabilitation for practitioners working at or towards an enhanced level of practice. Develop a deep, applied understanding of the principles that underpin high-quality rehabilitation across a broad range of sectors, conditions and injury types. Develop your clinical reasoning and decision-making to enable you to confidently assess, plan, deliver and evaluate personalised rehabilitation interventions within your own professional context. Develop your skills in engaging individuals, applying contemporary evidence to support safe, effective prehabilitation and rehabilitation.

Learning is rooted in real-world practice, with a strong focus on an enabling, strengths-based and person-centred approach. Whether you work in acute care, community settings, primary care, social care or specialist services, this module is designed to strengthen your capability and confidence, and support you in delivering meaningful outcomes for the people you work with.

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Optional

While each of the following modules can be studied on a standalone basis, those taking a PGCert must undertake both of the following mandatory modules:

Mandatory Module: Leading for Equitable Outcomes within Health and Care (15 credits)

Equips you with leadership strategies, communication in diverse teams and a systems-focused mindset, supporting service improvement and equity for all patients.

Mandatory Module: Developing Quality Led Practice (15 credits)

Builds capability in quality assurance, audit processes, research application and evidence-based clinical governance, empowering you to champion best practice.

Compulsory