PGCert Echocardiography in Congenital Heart Disease
About
Our six-month Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) in Echocardiography in Congenital Heart Disease provides healthcare professionals with the theoretical knowledge and specialist skills required for high-quality congenital imaging practice. The courseis practice-led by design to meet the evolving needs of contemporary cardiac services. You'll have access to a congenital echocardiography service and local supervision, enabling you to contextualise theoretical learning. Close alignment of academic content and clinical experience will allow you to progressively develop competence while maintaining patient safety.
On successful completion of this PGCert, you'll be able to:
- apply a critical understanding of the normal anatomy of the heart in relation to the thorax, cardiac embryology and pathophysiology related to the heart and its valves. This allows you to identify and accurately quantify the severity of congenital heart disease.
- utilise a critical understanding of ultrasound, propagation through tissue, ultrasound transducers and instrumentation optimisation to generate high quality transthoracic imaging in patients with congenital heart disease.
- demonstrate a critical understanding of ventricular function assessment and how to adapt these modalities for congenital heart disease.
- generate professional echocardiography reports and case presentations which evidence critical understanding of congenital cardiac pathologies and their clinical presentation.
- justify care pathways for congenital heart disease patients including medical management, catheter interventions and surgical procedures.
Entry
Entry requirements
Applicants must be qualified Cardiac Physiologists or Cardiac Scientists who are employed within NHS cardiac physiology departments and have either developed a specialist interest in congenital heart diseaseor a clearaspiration to build expertise in this area.
Applicants are expected to hold an undergraduate degree (or equivalent professional qualification) in cardiac physiology or a related discipline, and to be professionally registered, where appropriate, with the Academy of Healthcare Science (AHCS) or Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC).
How to apply
Recruitment of students and provision of funding is managed by the National School of Health Care Science with NHS England commissioning. Details are provided to UWE Bristol subsequently to compete the admissions process.
Once funding has been approved, students must apply for both modules using the links provided by UWE Bristol.
For further information
- Email:
CPD Admin: pd@uwe.ac.uk
Funding enquiries: england.nshcs@nhs.net
Academic enquiries: duncan.sleeman@uwe.ac.uk
- Telephone: +44 (0)117 32 81158
Structure
Content
You'll must take 60 credits from the two core modules:
- Practical Application of Congenital Echocardiography
- Theoretical Underpinning of Congenital Echocardiography.
The course content was created by clinical specialists with the National School of Healthcare Science and NHS England, alongside the British Society of Echocardiography.
The course is fundamentally practice-led, with clinical application acting as the central driver for learning. You'll gain supervised hands-on experience within an NHS congenital echocardiography department, where you'll develop scanning skills, clinical workflow understanding, and familiarity with real world diagnostic decision-making.
The curriculum is closely aligned with clinical practice and carefully sequenced to ensure coherency across modules. As your confidence and competence grow, the content moves from core principles of ultrasound physics and anatomy to specialist congenital imaging, interpretation, and multidisciplinary application.
Work-based learning is embedded throughout, providing structured clinical exposure, supervised scanning, and workplace-based assessments that reinforce taught content. Regular formative feedback ensures you develop not only technical proficiency but also professional autonomy and decision-making capability.
Learning and Teaching
This course is purposefully designed to build theoretical understanding, practical echocardiography skills, and advanced clinical reasoning through a coherent, blended, and practice-led model. The two modules, Theoretical Underpinning of Congenital Echocardiography and Practical Application of Congenital Echocardiography, run in-parallel.
Learning is delivered through a blended model, combining online teaching, in-person sessions, specialist workshops and supervised clinical practice, which supports accessibility while maintaining high academic and clinical standards. You're taught and mentored by experienced academics, clinical scientists, echocardiographers, cardiologists, and practice educators, ensuring exposure to a wide range of professional perspectives and real-world clinical scenarios.
See our full glossary of learning and teaching terms.
Assessment
Assessments in the Theoretical Underpinning of Congenital Echocardiography module include case studies and a written examination. This two-part written examination consists of multiple-choice questions designed to test your scientific knowledge, understanding of cardiac anatomy and physiology, congenital pathology, and the physics of ultrasound. The format of the written examination reflects the British Society of Echocardiography- Congenital Accreditation examination, preparing you for the external accreditation processes. There will be opportunities to receive relevant formative feedback before the summative assessments.
Assessments in the Practical Application of Congenital Echocardiography module will evaluate your ability to perform congenital echocardiography examinations, interpret findings, and demonstrate professionalism and safe practice. This is through a structured set of workplace-based and academic evaluations including Directly Observed Procedures, Observed Clinical Events and Case-Based Discussions, together with completion of an echocardiography report logbook.
Fees
There is currently no published fee data for this course.
Supplementary fee information
This course is funded by NHS England.
Features
Study facilities
The School of Applied Sciences at UWE Bristol has significant prior expertise of delivering a blended approach to teaching and assessment, through applied practice-oriented degrees, CPD and apprenticeship provision. The content of the PGCert will be delivered by academics and clinical specialists with many years of experience in the field of echocardiography, including congenital.
At the main Frenchay Campus, there is 24-hour access to computing facilities.
Find out more about the facilities and resources UWE Bristol has to offer.
Take a personalised virtual tour of the Health Professions facilities and experience what a typical day could look like here for you.
If the course you're applying for is fully online or blended learning, please note that you're expected to provide your own headsets/microphones.
Life
Postgraduate support
Our support includes access to fantastic facilities, study tools and career consultants, plus practical help to access everything from funding to childcare.
Bristol
A stunning city for student living with all the qualities to make you want to stay.
Sports, societies and activities
There is more to your experience here than study. Choose to make the most of it and try new things.
Health and Wellbeing
We provide support in the way you need it.
Campus and facilities
Discover our campuses and the wealth of facilities provided for our students.
