Heart Failure

You are required to have an MBBS (Medical Bachelor & Bachelor in Surgery) or equivalent for applicants with qualifications from outside of the UK.

You are also required to have two years of postgraduate clinical experience in cardiology and a documented familiarity with heart failure. You may be asked to present evidence of competency that might include certification or a letter from your supervisor.

Please note: all applicants are required to meet our English Language requirements. See below for more information.

We accept equivalent qualifications gained in other countries and use to assess. Degree certificates will need to be translated into English.

Please see our International Student Support pages for more information. If you have any questions, you can contact us at study@sgul.ac.uk

International applicants must satisfy the requirements of the UK government’s Visas and Immigration department in relation to St George’s responsibilities as a Tier 4 sponsor.

For details on English Language requirements, please see here. This is a Group 2 course.

Please note that a place on the course will not be confirmed unless the English Language requirements have been met, along with all other entry criteria.

You will be asked to outline your reasons for applying for the course in a brief personal statement on the application form. You will also need to provide two satisfactory references.

See the ‘Apply’ tab for more information. 

This module will give you an in-depth understanding of the causes and aetiology of heart failure, along with an expert understanding of its epidemiology. You will master the definitions of heart failure according to presentation, aetiology and results of diagnostic testing, and understand the possible differential diagnoses in patients presenting with suspected heart failure, including rarer causes including genetic, metabolic, toxic, pregnancy-related, infective, and infiltrative causes. This module will help you develop the expertise required to implement the national and international guidelines with insight and to understand how to apply them to each individual patient.

This module provides you with a comprehensive experience of the cardiovascular evaluation of patients with suspected heart failure. You will gain an in-depth understanding of how to evaluate patients with signs and symptoms of heart failure and of how to differentiate between alternative diagnoses and phenotypes of cardiac disease. You will explore the indications and interpretation of a number of investigative modalities. You will also gain an understanding of the value and challenges of biomarker testing and potential implications for the diagnosis and prognostication of patients with heart failure.

This module will give you comprehensive theoretical and practical experience in managing patients with heart failure, underpinned by an in-depth understanding of the relevant international guidelines. You will learn to develop critical responses to current national and international treatment guidelines and practices and be able to suggest new concepts and analyse the differences behind the different approaches for the prevention and treatment of heart failure. You will gain a deep understanding of possible drug-drug interactions and the contra-indication of cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular therapies. You will learn about the indications for device implantation within the therapeutic pathway and the current recommendations for emerging therapies in heart failure.

This module gives you a detailed experience of the most common co-morbidities in patients with heart failure. You will learn how to flexibly and creatively apply advanced methodological approaches to determine heart failure treatment strategies taking into account the varying importance of co-morbidities. You will learn about the indications and interpretation of a number of investigative modalities for detection of the most common co-morbidities occurring in patients with heart failure. You will also gain an understanding of frailty, sarcopenia and cachexia in heart failure and their implications in the therapeutic pathways.

This module will give you comprehensive practical experience of the management of arrhythmias and the expert indication for device therapies in patients with heart failure. You will gain an in-depth understanding of how to detect and manage potentially lethal arrhythmias, and you will explore the indications and interpretation of a number of devices for the treatment of arrhythmias in patients with heart failure. You will also learn the value and challenges of electrophysiological testing and potential implications for the management of patients with heart failure.

This module will develop your knowledge and skills in heart failure-related imaging. You will gain an in-depth understanding of how to evaluate patients with heart failure in different clinical scenarios using different imaging techniques. You will explore the indications and interpretation of a number of investigative modalities including advanced echocardiography, cardiac MRI, CT coronary angiography and drug provocation testing. You will also gain an understanding of the best indication of the different tests according to the different clinical presentations and patient characteristics.

This module will give you broad practical knowledge of advanced therapy to be used in patients with advanced heart failure. You will gain a thorough understanding of how to manage patients with advanced heart failure using both medical and device therapy. You will explore the indications of a number of advanced therapies in heart failure including ultrafiltration, left ventricular assist devices and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. You will also gain an understanding of the correct timing to use left ventricular assist devices as both a bridge and as destination therapy.

This module will develop your knowledge and skills in the multi-disciplinary management of patients with end-stage heart failure. You will gain an in-depth understanding of current management and research into treatments and develop a detailed knowledge of the psychological impact of advanced heart failure treatment on the patient and their family. You will learn to support effective communication within the multidisciplinary team in managing patient care by making appropriate connections with heart failure nurses, care of the elderly and general physicians, primary care physicians, palliative care services and pharmacists and how to organise multidisciplinary meetings to discuss patient care.

This module will develop your competences in the management of patients with acute heart failure. You will gain an in-depth understanding of how to treat patients with acute heart failure according to the clinical presentation, and on how to reach a timely diagnosis. You will explore the indications of different therapeutic strategies that can be adopted after phenotypisation of the patient. You will also gain an understanding of the best indication of the different diagnostic tests and procedures to be applied according to the different clinical presentations and patient characteristics.

This module is designed to enable you to develop the knowledge, skills and competencies required to organise, manage and deliver a Phase IV Cardiac Rehabilitation programme within a hospital or community setting. The module has a special focus on the rehabilitation of patients with heart failure who want to manage their condition and deal with activities of daily living. It is based on the European guidelines for cardiac rehabilitation, which promote evidence-based practice for patients who have had a known cardiac event. You will gain knowledge of aspects of cardiac disease, be exposed to the multidisciplinary nature of effective cardiac rehabilitation services, and learn to modify rehabilitation programmes for patients with heart failure.

In this part of the course, you will plan, prepare and conduct research into a heart failure topic of your choosing. You will then analyse, discuss and present the outcomes of your research.

The research project is a key component of the MSc and allows you to apply your newly developed skills and knowledge to a real-life clinical scenario. The planning of the research task (including logistics, risk assessment and ethical approval, where appropriate) helps you to develop organisational skills. The research itself gives you the opportunity to develop your skills in the collection, analysis, interpretation, evaluation and presentation of data in relation to current research in your chosen area of study.

You are encouraged to consider your area of interest as early as possible and to discuss these with your educational supervisor. You will be given a list of potential research areas and topics which you can choose your project from. It should be based on one of the following types of research:

• Analysis and discussion of primary data that you collect
• Analysis and discussion of existing (e. secondary) data
• Systematic review and analysis of published material
• Research in a workplace environment leading to and/or evaluating a practice or service innovation

The research project is primarily self-directed study but students will be allocated a supervisor who will support with their background knowledge on the subject and methodological expertise throughout the course.

1. Select the application link for your chosen mode of study:

• Heart Failure MSc (part time)

2. You will be asked to create an account.

3. Once you have created your account, you will be able to complete an application form and upload any relevant documents. You can save a partly completed form and return to it later. Please make sure you complete all sections. Please make sure that the information you provide is accurate, including the options you select in menus.

4. Add pgadmissions@sgul.ac.uk to your address book to ensure you do not miss any important emails from us.

5. When you have checked that your application is complete and accurate, click ‘submit’.

You can track your application through your online account.

When completing your application, you will be asked to provide contact details of two referees. Please ensure these details are accurate. As soon as you have submitted your application, your referees will be contacted by the university asking them to upload a reference to your online application.

One must be a recent academic reference. The other should be either a second academic reference or a professional/employer reference. They should cover your suitability for the course and your academic ability.

Your referees should know you well enough, in an official capacity, to write about you and your suitability for higher education. We do not accept references from family, friends, partners, ex-partners or yourself.

We will send reminder emails to your referees but it is your responsibility to ensure that contact details are correct and referees are available to submit a reference. References should be uploaded within two weeks of making your application.

We have a range of funding opportunities available for students. You may be eligible for the following:

• a Postgraduate Master’s Loan from the UK government of up to £11,570
• Other funding for Postgraduate Study
• An alumni discount– if you're a former St George’s student you can qualify for an additional 10% discount from this course.

Find our more about fees and funding.

Tuition fees are set by St George’s, University of London. Tuition fees are charged for each year of your course (unless stated). Fees for second and subsequent years are likely to increase annually in line with UK inflation as measured by the Retail Price Index (RPI-X). They will not normally increase by more than 5 per cent each year, except when the rate of inflation is significantly more than that projected in the preceding year.

2023 UK (Home)

• Part-time MSc: £7,750 per annum

2023 EU and International

• Part-time MSc: £12,750 per annum

Fees are reviewed on an annual basis for each year of entry.

The following table gives you an indication of additional costs associated with your course. These costs are not included in your tuition fees.

To be eligible for a scholarship you must:

• have completed an application for the course, either full-time or part-time study
• not already be qualified at Masters level or above (e.g. PhD)
• must be self-funding (courses fully funded by the NHS or students receiving employer or sponsor funding are not eligible)
• have or be predicted to obtain at least a 2:1.

All eligible candidates will be shortlisted on 1 May 2023 (please note scholarships cannot be deferred to 2024 or later entry).

Applicants with the highest scores across all courses will be considered for the scholarship and may be invited for interview.

If you are a Home (UK) or International (EU or non-EU) applicant applying for a taught postgraduate programme which has a scholarship, you will be automatically considered for the scholarship, providing you apply by the deadline (1 May 2023).

You do not need to submit an additional application form. However, you may be asked to attend a physical or virtual interview.

Successful candidates will be those whom the Scholarship Committee consider will make a positive contribution to the academic environment at St George's and achieve the highest scores.

Your application will be scored based on:

• your degree classification
• your personal statement
• your interview
• your references.