Healthcare Science

Citizens of the UK, or those with indefinite leave to remain in the UK, can apply for this course.

Voluntary and work experience

We understand the challenges for our prospective applicants for medicine and allied health courses trying to gain work experience at this time, particularly in clinical settings.    

In response to the government’s social distancing guidelines, which have a significant impact on all areas of life, we have chosen to relax our work experience requirements for prospective applicants for our courses which would normally require these.    

Despite the relaxed requirements, we still require our applicants to have an understanding of the realities of working as a healthcare professional and to show they have the necessary skills and attributes for their chosen career. Online resources can give you valuable insight into working in the healthcare sector and outline the wide range of careers and courses available. You can find a number of suggested resources for each of our courses here. 

Health and police screening

We have an obligation to both patients and to the individual students, so if you are accepted onto a healthcare course you are required to pass occupational health screening. If you are concerned about a health issue you are strongly advised to contact us prior to applying. All offers of places are made subject to satisfactory health clearance and an agreement to undergo appropriate blood tests and immunisations.

You will be asked to be immunised against Hepatitis B for personal safety, so please contact your general practitioner (GP) to arrange screening. You should begin a course of Hepatitis B immunisation as soon as you submit your UCAS application, as it consists of three injections over a six month period. If you firmly accept an offer you will be sent a confidential health questionnaire and further information about the process of screening for Hepatitis B.

This course includes working with children and vulnerable adults so you must have an enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check. More information about this will be sent to you as part of the admissions process.

Professional registration

If you are a current healthcare professional or a member of a registered professional body, you must provide details of your registration. If your professional registration has been suspended or revoked, or undergone a disciplinary/fitness to practice investigation, you will be required to provide further information if selected for interview. This will be reviewed by the admissions tutor and you may be required to provide full copies of related documentation. Any information you disclose will only be used for the purpose of considering your application to the applied course.

If you have studied but not completed a degree at an alternative university or are re-applying on the basis of A Levels, you must provide formal evidence as to why you withdrew from your studies previously. We will review each application on a case by case basis; however, we are not able to consider you if you have been suspended from previous studies due to fitness to practice issues or failure in assessments/examinations.

The following qualifications may enhance your application, but will not contribute to the minimum requirements:

• NVQs
• Massage courses
• Sports Coaching degree, unless you have Biology A Level in addition
• ITEC Anatomy and Physiology
• Some international qualifications (to be assessed on application).

If you are applying on the basis of A Levels, you must meet both the A Level and GCSE requirements below.

GCSEs

If you are applying on the basis of International Baccalaureate, you need to meet both our Higher Level and Standard Level requirements, as outlined below.

If you are applying on the basis of an Access Diploma, you must meet both the Access Diploma and GCSE requirements below.

GCSEs

If you are applying from outside of the UK, you will need to meet the English language requirements outlined here. This is a group 1 course.

Citizens of the UK, or those with indefinite leave to remain in the UK, can apply for this course.

Applicants should demonstrate an awareness of clinical physiology, and an interest in a clinical career.

We understand the challenges for our prospective applicants for medicine and allied health courses trying to gain work experience at this time, particularly in clinical settings.    

In response to the government’s social distancing guidelines, which have a significant impact on all areas of life, we have chosen to relax our work experience requirements for prospective applicants for our courses which would normally require these.    

Despite the relaxed requirements, we still require our applicants to have an understanding of the realities of working as a healthcare professional and to show they have the necessary skills and attributes for their chosen career. Online resources can give you valuable insight into working in the healthcare sector and outline the wide range of careers and courses available. You can find a number of suggested resources for each of our courses here.

Should you receive an offer to study at St George’s, you will be required to complete a health check and be declared fit to study and practise by the Occupational Health (OH) department before you begin your studies.

The following vaccinations are mandatory for all healthcare students before you begin your studies:

• MMR (measles, mumps and rubella)
• Meningococcal meningitis
• Diphtheria
• Pertussis (whooping cough)
• Poliomyelitis
• Tetanus

As part of the process, you will also be screened by the OH team for Chickenpox, Tuberculosis, HIV and Hepatitis B and C.

When admitting candidates to study and practise as a health practitioner, we have an obligation to both patients and to the individual student. Candidates who are concerned about a health issue are advised to contact us.

This course will include work with children and vulnerable adults, so you will be required to submit a series of declarations.

If you are invited to an interview, we will request some additional information from you, regarding your criminal record, educational history and employment history. You will also have the opportunity to make any other declarations that you’d like us to be aware of. We may not able to consider applicants who were suspended from previous study/work due to fitness to practise issues or failure in assessments/examinations.

If you are made an offer, you will be required to complete an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. More information about this is sent to applicants as part of the admissions process.

• Course content covers both cardiac physiology and respiratory/sleep physiology.

• Gain a BSc (Hons) in Healthcare Science while on your apprenticeship journey.

• At least 20% of the time in off-the-job training.

• Employment in a job with legal and contractually acceptable terms and conditions.

• Entry to a recognised occupation and a guaranteed starting salary point up to NHS Band 5, with clear training and progression.

• Eligibility for professional registration with RCCP or AHCS on successful completion.

You’ll be taught by staff with a background with experience of leading specialist cardiac, respiratory and sleep services. Where possible, current clinical physiology practitioners will also share their experiences: guest lectures have previously covered interpretation of sleep studies, paediatric lung function, hypoxic challenge testing, tilt testing for heart conditions and introduction to echocardiography and implantable cardioverter defibrillators.

Our teaching draws on the wealth of experience of our placement collaborators and alumni, who present masterclasses and workshops that enrich your learning. In previous years, the Royal National Institute of Blind People has highlighted to students best practice when dealing with blind patients.

On placement, you will be supervised, mentored and assessed by practising physiologists. Some of our placement sites also have STP and HSST scientists, who have to teach as part of their programme.

We use a range of assessment techniques, chosen to match the competencies being learned and tested within each module. These include written exam papers, academic coursework (essays, posters, presentations, reflective writing), the final year project dissertation (including clinical viva), clinical assessments that take place during placements and a portfolio of clinical work.

We use some formative assessments early on, including an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) in Year 1 prior to going on placement, to help you to develop your skills, and provide interactive learning resources to help you judge your own understanding of some of the more difficult material. Clinical Training modules are pass-fail, but marks for the other modules accumulate to give your final degree classification.

You must provide:

• full details of your Level 2 (GCSE or equivalent) qualifications with grades

• full details of your Level 3 (A Level or equivalent) qualifications with achieved/predicted grades

• a personal statement (more information about this document is available on the UCAS website)

• an academic reference from your current or most recent institutions with predicted grades

After submitting your application to UCAS:

• log in to UCAS Track and make sure all your academic details have been included

• if any subjects or predicted results are missing, email the Admissions Officer with your UCAS number and missing subjects and grades.

We will consider applications from applicants who wish to defer entry by a year, provided you plan to use the time constructively. If you are offered a place on the course and subsequently decide to defer, you must inform us by 1 June of the year of application.

We will send you an acknowledgement email and letter when we receive your application. Please make sure your email account is able to accept communications from St George’s as we will mainly communicate with you via email. Selected applicants will be invited to attend interview. Decisions from St George’s will be entered onto UCAS Track and direct applicants will be contacted via email.

From the commencement of the academic year the students will primarily access their learning, including learning materials, via the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Canvas.

However, we intend to deliver hands-on practical teaching, small group tutorial and a selection of Clinical Physiology specific taught sessions on campus with appropriate social distancing and/or personal protective equipment (PPE) measures put in place, and with controls on the number of people in each location. 

We are aiming to deliver 1 day per week of on-site activities per year group.

Placement providers will continue to offer placements as they have in the previous years. We will use our existing procedures for allocating students to placements, although this may be subject to change.

We are not making any significant changes to the content of the Healthcare Science programme.

There may be some minor changes to how we deliver the programme – see below table.

There is a possibility that government advice on social distancing may change in the future and this may restrict access to the campus. Even if this were to be the case, we expect to be able to continue to deliver the core modules of the programme and the final year specialisms and pathways as planned.

For Year 1 students

For continuing students

The existing learning outcomes for our modules and courses will remain in place. From the commencement of the academic year the students will primarily access their learning, including learning materials, via the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Canvas. However, we intend to deliver hands-on practical teaching, small group tutorial and a selection of Clinical Physiology specific taught sessions on campus with appropriate social distancing and/or personal protective equipment (PPE) measures put in place, and with controls on the number of people in each location. 

We are aiming to deliver 1 day per week of on-site activities per year group.

The online components of the course will be designed to balance interactive real-time sessions with lecturers and other students, with self-paced independent study. Students will have clear learning pathways through the activities they are expected to engage with, and there will be opportunities to check learning and progress.

Personal tutor support and all other student support, such as the Academic Success Centre, will also be online for this period, using a range of methods for staying in touch, such as telephone, email and the University’s web conferencing systems BigBlueButton and MSTeams.

Clinical placements are currently expected to take place under timetables traditionally used prior to Covid-19, with year one currently scheduled to commence in January 2022, year two in October 2021 and year three in September 2021. As indicated we intend to increase the standard number of weeks of clinical placements for year two and three students to make up for time lost on placement in the previous year, however, due to the uncertainty of placement sites it may also be necessary to decrease the number of placement weeks. All students on placement will be expected to undertake a risk assessment and adhere to local Trust working patterns and guidance.  

To get the most from online study, hardware requirements have been established and communicated to all existing students and offer holders. Students will need their own personal computer or laptop and an internet connection in their place of accommodation. This needs to be in place at the start of the course. Once enrolled, students will have the ability to use Office 365 as part of our institutional licence, and access software required for their modules/courses via AppsAnywhere. In addition, we offer Office for Mac via Ofice365, but only the following applications are available for Mac: Teams, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, OneNote. Web-based Office applications are available on Mac. Full details are available here.

There is a provision for students who may struggle to meet the hardware requirements to contact our IT Hardship team.

We are expecting to deliver the course within the planned timescales, and for students to progress and graduate without delay.

Placement providers will continue to offer placements as they have in previous years. Their capacity to offer placements may change if, in the event of a further outbreak of Covid-19, delivering care to affected patients becomes the overriding priority. If that happens, we will limit the impact on students where possible. For first and second year students it may be necessary to delay placements to the following academic year to protect student safety. However, there is a possibility that graduation for some final year students may be delayed until they can complete all placements.

We have developed online assessments so that these can go ahead regardless of whether students can attend site.

The assessment tasks are not changing, but may be delivered online. The impact will be limited because, although the way in which the assessment is being delivered is different, the assessment tasks, the learning outcomes that are being tested and the assessment criteria are the same. The assessments are therefore consistent with the way they were intended to be delivered. 

The online assessments are also the same in terms of the challenges they present to students. The assessments are therefore consistent with the way they were intended to be delivered. 

To maintain an inclusive and equitable approach that recognises, for example, challenging domestic circumstances and poor home internet connections, we recognise that students will need to find an appropriate environment in which to take the assessment and make sure that they have IT equipment and a reliable internet connection. This may not be possible for all students.

We aim to lend equipment to students if their own facilities are inadequate. We are also allowing students to apply to take their exam on-campus using a networked computer or laptop with WIFI connectivity. Students can request assistance by contacting examonsite@sgul.ac.uk ideally 4 weeks before their exam if they think you will have difficulties meeting.

Through the process to agree changes to assessments, criteria were developed to ensure that they remained fair, valid and reliable and did not disadvantage any student. 

We will continue to provide live assessment briefings, with opportunities for students to ask any questions or request targeted revision sessions. We don’t run mock exams per se, however many sessions are supported with Canvas quizzes with feedback for their individual lectures, using the same delivery system and format as the online exam.  For initial examination in the first year a mock paper is available for students to take in their own time. It is in two formats; one is without answers, the other has answers and explanations.

The changes will have no bearing on the accreditation of the programme by the NSHCS and RCCP or graduates from it.   

Clinical placements are currently expected to take place under timetables traditionally used prior to Covid-19, with year one currently scheduled to commence in January 2022, year two in October 2021 and year three in September 2021.

As indicated we intend to increase the standard number weeks of clinical placements for year two and three students to make up for time lost on placement in the previous year, however, due to the uncertainty of placement sites it may also be necessary to decrease the number of placement weeks.

All students on placement will be expected to undertake a risk assessment and adhere to local Trust working patterns and guidance.  

We do not expect students to incur any extra costs over and above those that we have advertised on the course page.

As a result of our courses beginning with the majority of teaching online, you will need a personal laptop or computer and access to the internet to participate in online lectures. Information is available on recommended device specification.

If you are worried you might struggle to meet these requirements, you should email IThardship@sgul.ac.uk so we can look at support options for you.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) will be provided for you in on-site activities if needed.

Generally speaking a typical week study will involve 4 scheduled days of taught content/activities, with 3 of these taking place online, using a combination of live and self-directed sessions, and 1 day per week of on-site activities.

During placement periods students will be required to attend placement for 30 hours per week, spread across 4 days, with the fifth day being utilised for either independent study or scheduled taught activities.

Course timetables are normally available 1 month before the start of the semester.

Please note that while we make every effort to ensure that timetables are as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week (Monday–Friday). Wednesday afternoons are normally reserved for sports and cultural activities.

Academic terms dates can be found on this page.

At enrolment or re-enrolment you consented to the changes we anticipated as a result of the pandemic, which were outlined on the ‘Covid-19 updates’ tab of your course page at: www.sgul.ac.uk/study/courses.

The changes that we are making are the consequence of current public health advice and our need to anticipate changes to that advice. Our capacity to offer alternatives is therefore limited. We do not feel that the changes will adversely affect students.  If you wish to avoid these changes (e.g. by taking a year out from your studies) please discuss this directly with your course team in the first instance. We remain, as always, focused on the best experience and outcomes for our students.  

If you have concerns about the quality of course delivery, please raise these with your course team in the first instance.

If you wish to take a more formal route, guidance is available to you in our student concerns and complaints procedure.