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Foundation Degree

Assistant Practitioner

Duration:

Two Years

Start Dates:

September

Attendance:

Part-time, one day per week at the University (Wednesday)

Venue:

Uxbridge Campus

Cost:

£2,000 per year (subject to change)

Key Contact:

Alan Baillie

Tel:

01494 603 171

Email:

ask@bucks.ac.uk

Is this course suitable for me?

The aim of the foundation degree is to produce an Assistant Practitoner who is an autonomous practitioner that can perform independently or as part of a team in health and social care.

This development will provide healthcare workers with the opportunity to develop their careers following the patient’s care journey and health care needs, rather than careers based around traditional professional boundaries.

Students undertaking this Foundation Degree Assistant Practitioner may come from, or wish to gain future employment in a variety of care delivery settings; Hospital in and outpatient settings, Nursing Homes, Residential Homes, Voluntary Organisations, Day Centres, ‘Drop in’ Centres, Special Schools or Agencies providing domiciliary care for vulnerable, elderly and disabled groups. Within these generic services the patient/client/user group is also diverse: those with a mental illness, learning disability, young offenders, children and the elderly. Therefore it is anticipated that the student group will have a wide range of past experiences, interests and career ambitions which will greatly enhance the richness of study and classroom debate. The multi or inter agency classroom activity will also develop an understanding of health and social care provision generally and promote future working practices thereby enhancing the holistic care of patient/client/user groups and individuals across the sector.

Overview

A Foundation Degree rates the same academically as the first two years of a three year Honours Degree at a UK university. It can be achieved in two year by part-time study because it is work-based and in an applied discipline. The key features of a Foundation Degree are:

• The development of specialist technical knowledge and skills

• Learning structured around your employment

• The development of motivated and qualified students who will benefit from increased career opportunities

• You can continue to earn while learning – there is no need to give up your job to do a Foundation Degree

• Partnership input and support from both academics and practitioners

Content

Year 1

• Working in a professional environment
• Effective Communication in Health and Social Care
• Essentials of Healthcare Delivery
• The Psychosocial influences in Health and Social Care

Year 2

• Pathophysiology and Assessment of the Deteriorating Patient
• Research Evidence in Health and Social Care
• Learning from Practice
• Managing the Healthcare Environment

What will I learn?

On successful completion of level 4, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate effective communication skills to promote optimum care for groups of people and/or carers; and profession specific knowledge to others
• Read purposefully, identifying what is relevant from a range of resource materials and apply to the professional context of care in which the student works
• Contribute effectively to the use of methods of enquiry in order to collect, interpret data to provide information that would inform or benefit practice
• Apply problem solving skills and demonstrate logical and systematic thinking in a variety of settings
• Demonstrate suitable professional attitude knowledge and understanding of the key concepts of biological, physical, social, psychological and clinical sciences that are relevant to the students profession-specific practice
• Articulate the role of the assistant practitioner role and boundaries in practice

On successful completion of level 5, students will be able to:

• Analyse and evaluate current trends in health and social care
• Critically analyse theories and concepts that underpin and challenge practice and professionalism in health and social care
• Analyse and evaluate the appropriateness of different interventions or approaches from a range of perspectives and in different situation
• Effectively search, analyse and collate literature to inform evidence based health and social care in the UK and contemporary context in which it takes place or to develop new insights into practice
• Evaluate critically the diversity of values in the context of health and social care including the perspectives of service users; the social processes associated with the promotion of health and well being and the creation of inequalities
• Critically analyse current developments both in practice and the contextual nature of health and social care service provision including the structure, policies and practices of the NHS, social services and voluntary sectors

Teaching and learning

How will it be delivered?

• Flexible and diverse study methods including work based learning, lectures, seminars, tutorials, distance learning and on-line support
• Students will study in the workplace and will be have an allocated Mentor to support their learning in practice

Entry requirements

The Foundation Degree Assistant Practitioner is a flexibly designed programme that has been supported by key stakeholders and potential employers from a variety of professional practice areas and occupations. It has been designed to enable practitioners in community health, education and social care to meet their continuing professional development needs and develop expertise in their specific professional practice.

Within the philosophy of Foundation Degrees and Lifelong Learning the course offers wide entry to study. Prospective students will be expected to normally have an appropriate:

• Further Education level 3 qualification such as NVQ level 3, Access to Higher Education or GNVQ, GCSE/CSE, 14-19 Diploma or A level study
• Be mature candidates who, whilst not having the necessary academic qualifications, have relevant work experience and be able to demonstrate that they can study at level 4.
• Be employed as an assistant practitioner (or equivalent) and have the support of your employing authority for a minimum of 15 hours per week
• Evidence of literacy and numeracy skills to level 2.
• Basic IT literacy

How to make an application

We hope to have a fully on-line application system shortly, but in the meantime, to apply for a course, please download and print these forms, completing them fully and posting back to the address below.

• Course_Enquiry_Letter (70.4 KB)
• Application_form (58.1 KB)
• Notes_for_Guidance (51.6 KB)
• Fee_Authoristaion_Form (61.1 KB)
• Academic_Reference_Form (50.6 KB)
• Clinical_Reference_Form (57.2 KB)
• Employer_Support_Declaration_FDAP (21.9 KB)

If you are unable to view the forms, please click here to download a free version of adobe reader.

Alternatively, if you call us on 01494 603 171 or email ask@bucks.ac.uk we can post you a hard copy application pack.

Students funded by the NHS or other employer

If the cost of your course is being funded by your employer, please contact your education lead or manager for guidance as to how they would prefer you to make an application.