Physiotherapy with Foundation Year

Physiotherapy is a regulated healthcare profession concerned with restoring and maintaining movement and physical function in people affected by injury, illness, disability, or ageing. Physiotherapists work across a remarkable range of settings, from acute hospital wards and intensive care units to outpatient clinics, community rehabilitation, sports medicine, and mental health services. The work demands both clinical expertise and the interpersonal skills to support patients, communicate effectively with multidisciplinary teams, and adapt care to the individual circumstances of each person.

At Derby this four-year full-time programme includes a foundation year, which gives you a preparatory stage to develop the biological sciences and academic foundations you need before entering the main clinical degree. Across the programme you will develop the knowledge, skills, and clinical judgement needed to practise as a physiotherapist in the modern NHS and beyond. The programme is practice-based, meaning clinical placements are central to your education, placing you in real healthcare settings where you work under supervision with real patients, developing the professional competence and clinical confidence that qualify you to practise.

The curriculum integrates clinical skills with leadership, digital literacy, and research, preparing you not only for immediate clinical roles but for a career in which continuing professional development is expected.

Registration with the Health and Care Professions Council is required to work as a physiotherapist in the UK, and the degree is designed to prepare you for that registration.

Graduates work as physiotherapists in the NHS, independent healthcare, sport, occupational health, and international contexts. Career progression can lead to specialist, advanced practitioner, and consultant physiotherapist roles, and many physiotherapists also pursue postgraduate study or research to develop specialist expertise.