Physiotherapy

If English is not your first language and you are not a national of a country deemed by either the UK Home Office or St George’s, University of London to be ‘majority English speaking’ listed here, you will be required to meet the English Language requirements outlined below. Tests are valid for a period of two years.

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. 

In addition to meeting the academic criteria for admission, you should be able to demonstrate a keen interest in and commitment to working with people, be able to identify relevant transferable skills that would make you a good physiotherapist, demonstrate a broad awareness of the scope of physiotherapy, and have obtained some relevant work experience where possible. All of this should be evident from your UCAS personal statement. Applicants who do not demonstrate this are unlikely to be invited for an interview.

Applicants should be aware that we will be notified by UCAS of any plagiarism within a personal statement. If UCAS indicate that the plagiarism is above 60% then your application is unlikely to be considered any further and you will be unsuccessful.

Satisfactory clearance in both, including immunisation against Hepatitis B, MMR, Meningitis, TB and Chicken Pox
Enhanced Police Disclosure via the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Candidates accepted onto healthcare courses are required to pass an occupational health screening. When admitting candidates to study and practice 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 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.

Offer holders will be asked to be immunised against Hepatitis B for personal safety, and will receive a confidential health questionnaire and further information about the process of health screening if they firmly accept their offer. However, you may wish to contact your general practitioner (GP) to begin a course of Hepatitis B immunisation before  you receive an offer, as it consists of three injections over a six month period.

This course will include work with children and vulnerable adults so all applicants will be required to have an enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check. More information about this is sent to offer holders as part of the admissions process, but you can read more about DBS checks here.

If you are a current healthcare professional or a member of a registered professional body, you must provide details of your registration. If you have had your professional registration 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 considering your application to the applied course.

Applicants who are studying or who have previously studied on another Pre-Registration Physiotherapy course in the UK may not be considered.

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

• NVQs
• Massage courses
• ITEC Anatomy and Physiology.

If your qualifications do not meet the cut off period of five years but you have completed some other recognised study, please provide additional information and supporting evidence when you submit your 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

We welcome applications from applicants around the world. For information on the requirements for your country, please visit our International Qualifications page.

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.

In addition to meeting the academic criteria for admission, you should be able to demonstrate a keen interest in and commitment to working with people, be able to identify relevant transferable skills that would make you a good physiotherapist, and demonstrate a broad awareness of the scope of physiotherapy. All of this should be evident from your personal statement. Applicants who do not demonstrate this are unlikely to be invited for an interview.

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.

Assessment methods include a combination of written and practical examinations, academic coursework (including reports and presentations), and assessment of clinical skills whilst on placement. In your final year, we ask you to produce a problem-based report on an aspect of interdisciplinary practice, a group research project, and a poster related to holistic patient management and physiotherapy practice.

You’ll be taught by staff with recent experience of working in various practice settings, including chartered physiotherapists, midwives, health visitors, speech therapists and occupational therapists, who will share their up-to-date knowledge, experience and recent anecdotes. Where possible, service users – patients – are invited to talk to you directly about their own experiences of being unwell, for example, living with lung disease.  

We use a range of assessment techniques, chosen to match the competencies being learned and tested within each module. These include written (essays, posters, presentations, reflective writing, case reports) and practical assessments of physiotherapy skills during lab-based sessions and on placement.

In your final year, we ask you to produce a problem-based report on an aspect of interdisciplinary practice, a group research project and a poster related to holistic patient management and physiotherapy practice. Topics are often linked to NHS/Government health initiatives, such as, for example, physio intervention to prevent ill health in train drivers.

• Acute health and social care

• Armed forces

• Community clinics

• GP surgeries

• Health clubs

• Hospices

• Hospitals

• Housing departments

• International services

• Mental health services

• Older people’s services

• Private practice

• Specialist clinics

• Sports clubs

• Voluntary organisations.

You must provide the following.

• 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). We recommend that you include in your statement a recognition that studying a BSc in Physiotherapy will include practice and study in a number of settings.

• 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.

All face-to-face teaching will take place at St George’s, University of London, on the campus that we share with St George’s Hospital in Tooting, with appropriate social distancing measures and PPE in place.

We have not explored alternative locations for teaching and have no immediate plans to do so.

If government advice on social distancing changes, we will consider ways in which we can deliver teaching on site in a manner that is safe for students and staff.

For clinical programmes, 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, unless government advice changes.

We are not making any significant changes to the content of the Physiotherapy BSc programme.

However, placement activity for Year 3 may need to be remodelled, as there is currently reduced placement provision from practice because of the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on placement provision.

It is anticipated that Year 2 placements will proceed as scheduled.

All the programme modules are compulsory and must be passed for successful completion for the degree award, and to make students eligible to apply for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council(HCPC) under the protected title of Physiotherapist.

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.

At the moment we are delivering clinical skills and practical exams onsite following the government advice of social distancing and appropriate PPE.

The existing learning outcomes for our modules and courses will remain in place. From September to December 2021 all students will primarily access their learning, including learning materials, via the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Canvas. Hands-on practical teaching and learning activities will be delivered on campus with appropriate social distancing and personal protective equipment (PPE) measures put in place, and with controls on the number of people in each location if required to meet social distancing requirements. 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 Microsoft Teams.

All students on placement will be expected to adhere to the hosting practice organisations’ working patterns and guidance.

Incoming students

At this stage, we expect to deliver the course within the planned timescales to enable successful incoming students to progress through the programme and to graduate without delay.

Some assessments are designed to be taken onsite or in small groups, wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). Where necessary we have developed alternative assessment strategies to enable students to complete their assessments remotely.

Training in the use of the relevant online platforms will be provided. The programme does include practical, clinical and skill-based elements that are delivered in specialist teaching rooms and with specialist equipment. Practical classes in our specialist teaching rooms will be arranged to minimise travel to and from the site with appropriate social distancing and PPE if required.

Anatomy sessions normally delivered in our Dissection Room will delivered online with video recordings in Term 1 (September–December 2021).

Communication skills sessions will be online in Term 1.

Practical, clinical and skills-based teaching will run as planned for the remainder of 2021/22.

We have currently planned for placement activity in Years 1 and 2 of the programme and will use our normal systems and processes to allocate students to placement.

We will consider any necessary risk assessments for individual students and plan their placements accordingly.

There is a possibility that government advice on social distancing may change. In that case, we will endeavour to delay practical components of the programme to a subsequent semester (or year) to protect the safety of students.

Current students

At this stage, we expect to deliver the course within the planned timescales to enable successful current students to progress through the programme and to graduate without delay if successful.

We have currently planned for placement activity for Years 2 and3 of the programme and will use our normal systems and processes to allocate students to placement. We will consider any necessary risk assessments. .for individual students and plan their placements accordingly. We will continue to offer final-year research projects that enable students to work with staff on topics related to physiotherapy science, education and therapy.

Depending on government advice and guidance, we may be able to offer face-to-face data collection. However, projects will be flexible if this is not possible.

For clinical programmes, 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 their overriding priority. If that happens, we will limit the impact on students where possible.

We will rotate students through the sites that are continuing to accept students and, where possible, will use physiotherapy placements that engage in remote consultations to offer a comparable clinical experience.

For continuing students, it may be possible to delay placements to the next academic year to protect student safety. However, there is a possibility that graduation for some final-year students may be delayed until they are able to complete all placements.

Incoming students 2021

For students starting in 2021, we assess the knowledge, skills and attributes of our students in a variety of ways. These include formal written examinations, practical examinations (formative and summative) and in-course assessments which might include essays, practical write-ups and special study reports, oral presentations and poster presentations.

We expect to deliver these assessments as planned.

Although some assessments are designed to be taken onsite, we successfully developed an alternative assessment strategy in 2019/20 to enable students to complete assessments remotely and without coming on to campus. For example, formal examinations were taken remotely by students at a time of their choosing within a window stipulated by us.

If the government advice on social distancing changes, we will take this approach again.

Current students

For current students, the university-based assessments will continue and you will submit online as usual. Some assessments have been adapted slightly – you will be informed of these changes at the start of each module.

Assessments where students are directly observed performing a practical or clinical skill by an examiner will be arranged on the university campus wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

Other assessments of practice performance will be on practice placements, either face-to-face or via online methods. At this stage, we expect to be able to deliver assessments of this kind during practice placements. However, if government advice changes and our campus is closed, we will not be able to deliver these assessments as planned. If that is the case, it might be possible to delay these assessments from one year of the course to the next in order to protect student safety.

However, there is a possibility that graduation for some final-year students may be delayed until they are able to complete all assessments and practice placements because we have an obligation to our regulators to confirm that our students have met the clinical and practical outcomes for the programme before they graduate.

All assessment modifications we have implemented and will implement were discussed with students and approved by the assessment modification committee at the University.

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

Personal protective equipment (PPE) will be provided for you if needed.

If government guidance changes and we are required to postpone or alter placements,  students may need to cover living expenses beyond the standard term dates of the programme.

Year 1

Practical classes onsite Mondays from 9am to 5pm (but not necessarily the whole period). 

Online delivery Tuesday, Thursday and Friday between the hours of 9am to 5pm (but not necessarily the whole period).

Year 2

Practical classes onsite Tuesday and Thursday from 9am to 5pm (but not necessarily the whole period).

Online delivery between the hours of 9am and 5pm (but not necessarily the whole period) and Wednesday from 9am to12pm.

Year 3

Practice placement the whole of Term 1 with some preparatory online tutorials/lectures.

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.