Medicine and healthcare
Operating department practice
BSc approved by the Health and Care Professions Council
Overview
Operating department practice trains you to work in anaesthetics, surgery and recovery inside operating theatres. You learn how to prepare patients, equipment and sterile fields, and how to respond when a procedure changes quickly. It is not medical school and it is not nursing, though you work beside both. Placements are in theatres, so the hours follow surgical lists. Students who enjoy it like technical teamwork and can concentrate for long periods in a controlled environment.
You want a registered role in the operating theatre that is not medicine or nursing.
Surgery, anaesthesia and adult nursing are different training paths.
People who like precise team protocols and high-stakes practical work.
What you will study
Universities do not teach the same modules. The lists below are a general shape, not a syllabus.
Year 1
- Theatre foundations
- Anatomy
- Patient care
Later years
- Anaesthetics
- Surgical practice
- Post-anaesthetic care
Skills
Useful before you start
- Reliability
- Science
- Teamwork
Developed during the degree
- Anaesthetic support
- Sterile practice
- Recovery care
Teaching and assessment
Teaching often includes Lectures, Simulation, Theatre placements.
Assessment often includes Exams, Practice assessments.
Typical weekly commitment
Estimate.
Entry requirements
Indicative patterns from published UK admissions information. Not an offer. Actual requirements vary by course, university and year. Pearson Edexcel International A Level and Cambridge International A Level are not treated as the same qualification as GCE A level.
Indicative requirements by qualification
The A-level band is the catalogue reference. IB and American lines come from the named university guides under the table. They are not a conversion every university uses, and they are not an offer.
| Qualification | Indicative requirements |
|---|---|
| A Levels | CCC–BBC. A science is useful. Required subjects vary. |
| IB Diploma | No UCL figure is stored for CCC or BBC. The stored UCL table runs from ABB to A*A*A. A required A-level subject must be Higher Level in UCL's rule. Each Higher Level subject in that table is at least 5. UCL equates A* to 7, A to 6 and B to 5. This is one university's table. |
| American curriculum | No Manchester social-sciences AP example is stored for CCC or BBC. Bristol publishes a GPA of 3.2, or 3.4 for competitive courses, and does not use one AP pattern for every degree. |
- University College London: Undergraduate entry requirements. Retrieved 2026-10-14. Not a universal rule.
- University of Manchester, School of Social Sciences: Americas country guide. Retrieved 2026-10-14. Not a universal rule.
- University of Manchester, Civil Engineering: USA country entry requirements. Retrieved 2026-10-14. Not a universal rule.
- University of Bristol: USA international qualifications. Retrieved 2026-10-14. Not a universal rule.
A-level subjects
A science is useful. Required subjects vary.
Often recommended: Biology.
Useful preparation: Chemistry.
GCSE and IGCSE
Many healthcare courses expect English language and mathematics, and often sciences, at GCSE or IGCSE. Grade thresholds differ. No single grade is stored as a national rule. International GCSEs are not automatically treated as GCSEs by every university.
Indicative only.
Other ways in
- Look for HCPC approval for operating department practitioners.
Admissions tests and extra requirements
No admissions test is stored as usual for this course. A university can still set one for a particular year.
Course costs
For many standard full-time courses in England, the home-fee maximum in 2026 to 2027 is Up to £9,790. This is the maximum standard full-time fee published for approved English providers with a TEF award and an access and participation plan. It is not the fee a named university charges, and it does not decide whether you pay home or international fees.
Clinical, laboratory and studio courses are not given a different home-fee figure here, because the regulated maximum is not the same thing as an international or clinical fee.
International tuition is set by each university and is not stored here. Clinical courses are often much higher than classroom-based courses. A school in Qatar does not decide home-fee status.
Source: Changes to tuition fees: 2026 to 2027 academic year. Retrieved 2026-10-14. Living costs, field trips and professional fees are not included.
Where you could study
UK degrees in this subject are numerous. This page does not list every university, because a list without a checked entry requirement would look more certain than it is.
No individual UK course page is stored yet for this subject. Use the university site.
No overseas course has been checked for this subject yet.
Where could this degree take you?
Operating department practitioner
Direct qualifying route
An approved degree is the registration route.
Explore your pathway
A course sits between school subjects and a career. It does not guarantee either admission or a job.