AdvDip(CPD) Advanced Physical Skills Assessment in a Mental Health Setting
Course Overview
This stand-alone professional development course aims to develop your understanding of the physical health needs of patients in a mental health setting. It’s ideal if you’re an aspiring advanced clinical practitioner (ACP) working in mental health as the course has a clinical focus and offers the opportunity to develop skills required for this role.Our experienced and knowledgeable team will support you to gain an understanding of the need for robust physical health assessments within your speciality, and the necessary skill set to manage these and the referral process, where appropriate. You’ll explore the perception of people with mental health and learning disability needs and how you can improve their physical healthcare needs. The course will emphasise how a patient’s mental health may impact their physical health and focus on how you can assess patients to make an appropriate diagnosis. We’ll guide you as you learn about common assessment tools and models and the principles of health education and health promotion.
We’ll cover the management of physical health needs and the importance of robust consultation, decision making and therapy, including networking and referrals. This will be linked to relevant legal policy and ethical aspects specific to mental healthcare and relating to consent and mental capacity. Evidence-based practice and clinical governance will underpin the development of your knowledge and skills, and we’ll emphasise the importance of professional accountability and responsibility.
We’ll also support you to learn how to develop services that consider the physical needs of the mental health population and gain knowledge of how to make recommendations for practice development.
The module will be delivered in collaboration between the University of Bolton and expert clinical practitioners from practice.
To benefit from studying this course, you should already a health professional with a basic understanding and some clinical experience of working within mental health.
Highlights
- Our dedicated academic team brings extensive health and social care experience to the course content. Along with their passion for service excellence in mental health settings, they’re also currently engaged in highly relevant research, which means they can add valuable context and insight to your learning.
- The course is designed to provide the flexibility to fit in with busy home and working lives.
- As you study this course, we’ll encourage you to develop the skills, values and behaviours so popular with employers. These include action planning, personal impact and confidence, self-awareness, social and ethical responsibility, problem-solving, initiative and communication skills.
- The course is part of a professional development framework, and you can use the credits you’ll gain by completing the course successfully towards the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice (Mental Health).
Key Features
- The University of Bolton has been offering high-quality courses designed to meet the health and social care sector’s needs for over 30 years, so we have the knowledge and experience to anticipate and respond to changes in the sector.
- Our courses and programmes respond directly to the requirements of the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF), which is at the heart of the career and pay progression aspect of Agenda for Change.
- We review the course curriculum regularly to ensure we include and apply contemporary theories.
- On successful completion of this course, you will be awarded an Advanced Professional Development qualification in Advanced Physical Skills Assessment in a Mental Health Setting worth 20 credits at Level HE7.
Entry Requirements
- To undertake this course, you must offer current professional registration as a health or social care practitioner with evidence of post-registration experience of professional practice; for example, registered nurse, assistant practitioner, allied health professional or paramedic. A first degree relevant to your health or social care practice is desirable and/or recent study at Level HE6.
- Current experience of working in a mental health setting is essential for this course.
- You may be required to attend an interview and/or provide a portfolio of work.
- Please note that this course is subject to the University of Bolton's Fitness to Practise procedure.
Where changes are made to material information contained in this course description or a decision is taken to suspend a course between the offer of admissions and enrolment, we will inform applicants at the earliest possible opportunity and will outline the various options available to the applicant.
Career Opportunities
This course offers academic progression in the specialist field of physical skills assessment in mental health settings.
Fees & Funding
Home/EU Fees
No fee information is currently available, please contact the University of Bolton’s Academic Fees team by emailing AcademicFees@bolton.ac.uk for more information.
International Fees
No fee information is currently available, please contact the University of Bolton’s Academic Fees team by emailing AcademicFees@bolton.ac.uk for more information.
Bursaries
Important note regarding tuition fees for the 2025-26 academic year: EU nationals who meet residency requirements (have settled or pre-settled status) may be eligible for 'Home' fee status. If you do not meet these residency requirements, overseas fees will apply. Irish citizens living in the UK or Ireland will be eligible for 'Home' fee status under the Common Travel Area arrangement. Please read the student finance for EU students web page on www.gov.uk for information.
The fees for a student's course of study will be set for the normal duration of that course subject only to inflationary increases – measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded in March each year to take effect for subsequent start dates.
How to apply
Home Applicants
You may apply directly to the University using the University's online application form. Please select your chosen start date from the list below:
You should have to hand:
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Details of the educational establishments you attended and dates
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Your certificates for the qualifications you are using to gain entry to the course – you will need to enter the completion date and upload copies
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Details of any employment history including name, address, dates and role
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Personal statement – this can be either input into the relevant field or uploaded separately
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Details including e-mail addresses of two referees, at least one of which should be someone who can provide an academic reference
Please make sure any documents you wish to upload in support of your application are in pdf or jpeg format. Personal statements may be word documents.
Please ensure your data is correct at each stage of the application before you proceed to the next page. If you use the back button at any time during the application, you should check the validity of the data you have already input.
If you experience difficulties during the application process, contact the Admissions Team on 01204 903394 or admissions-team@bolton.ac.uk
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Apply online: University of Bolton APD in Advanced Physical Skills Assessment in a Mental Health Setting - 27 January 2025
International Applicants
International applications are not possible for this course
As an international student you are not allowed to study this course because of the restrictions on your visa.
We offer a wide range of full-time courses in lots of different subjects, many of our courses start in September and January. If you would like to see what courses are available please visit our Course Search.
Teaching & Assessment
This advanced professional development course adopts a blended learning approach, using the principles of problem-based learning to develop your enquiry skills and place this in the context of patient care.
You’ll be introduced to topics through keynote lectures that will involve a mixture of theory and case-based discussions. Following the lectures, you’ll be expected to explore each topic in greater depth through self-directed learning. You’ll be encouraged to consider current research evidence and use this to inform your practice.
In terms of assessment, you can expect written assignments, clinical case submissions and practical skills assessment through objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) assessment.
Modules
The modules listed below may be a mixture of compulsory and optional. You may not have the opportunity to study all the modules shown as part of the course.
- Advanced Physical Skills Assessment in a Mental Health Setting
Assessment methods
| Level | Assessment method |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | Coursework 100% |
Learning Activities
| Level | Activity |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | Guided independent study 75% Scheduled learning and teaching activities 25% |
The university will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver your course as described in its published material and the programme specification for the academic year in which you begin your course. The university considers changes to courses very carefully and the university will minimise any changes. Please be aware that our courses are subject to review on an ongoing basis and changes may be necessary due to legitimate staffing, financial, regulatory and academic reasons. The content of course modules and mode of associated assessments may be updated on an annual basis. This is to ensure that all modules are up-to-date and responsive to employment and sector needs. The published course material and the programme specification contain indicative ‘optional modules’ that may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control. For this reason, we cannot guarantee to run any specific optional module.
