CAS Programmes
The Certificate of Advanced Studies, reimagined for primary care
A European-standard, FHEQ Level 7 credential delivered as a focused 10-week cohort — modelled on the best of Harvard's distance-learning design and and kept current. Every MD Acumen programme is a standalone CAS.
Reviewed and kept current
Last editorial review: 6 June 2026 · Next scheduled refresh: 1 September 2026.
A focused, standalone certificate — not a part-finished degree
A Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) is a master's-level (FHEQ Level 7) academic award carrying 20 UK credits / 10 ECTS. It is the established European standard for focused professional study — substantial enough to be academically meaningful, compact enough to complete alongside clinical work. Each MD Acumen CAS is self-contained: one clinical topic, taught in full, with its own award. There is no part-finished ladder to climb and no obligation to commit to a longer programme.
Every award is made by New Vision University at FHEQ Level 7 within the European Higher Education Area. A CAS is an academic credential; it is not a UK degree, GMC registration or entry to the Specialist Register, and it does not by itself confer any individual practising role.
Ten weeks, designed around a clinician's life
Instructor-paced and cohort-based — the structure that drives completion — with flexible, online study between live sessions. You progress with a class, not alone.
Onboard
Diagnostic baseline · cohort forum opens
Learn
One module a week · living lesson + live workshop
Synthesise
Consolidation & capstone clinics
Assess
Knowledge · capstone · presentation
Award
Graded within a week · CAS conferred
| Phase | What happens | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Week 0 | Onboarding, a diagnostic baseline, pre-reading and the cohort forum opens. | Orientation |
| Weeks 1–8 | One module per week: a flexible online living lesson, a live workshop, and a short confidence-rated knowledge check that revisits earlier material at widening intervals. | Active teaching |
| Week 9 | Consolidation, capstone clinics and assessment preparation. | Synthesis |
| Week 10 | A confidence-calibrated knowledge assessment, your written capstone, and a short presentation with questions. | Assessment |
| Weeks 11–12 | Grading within a week, then results and the CAS award. | Award |
Your capstone is a workplace asset. Instead of an academic exercise filed away, your final project is a quality-improvement plan, service design, audit-with-a-question or critical appraisal applied to your own setting — so the programme returns measurable benefit to your clinic, not just a certificate to you.
Designed to make knowledge stick — and stay current
Most courses teach once and hope it lasts. Ours is built on the science of how clinicians actually retain and apply knowledge, and it keeps working after the certificate.
Encode
A living lesson you can take at the depth you choose.
Retrieve
Low-stakes recall that teaches, not just tests.
Space
Key items return at widening intervals.
Calibrate
You rate your confidence; feedback targets the gaps.
Master
Re-test to proficiency, not to a deadline.
Refresh
Content is kept current as guidelines change.
Five ways through every lesson
Deep-dive, summary, one-screen at-a-glance, self-assessment, or a short audio version for your commute — the same validated content, at the depth your day allows.
Professor Mode
Optional doctoral-tier stretch — where guidelines disagree, where trials are pending — for clinicians who want the forefront. Always enrichment, never a hurdle to pass.
Currency that continues
After your award, you can keep receiving refreshed key items and updates, so your competence stays current long after Week 12.
Three flagship CAS programmes
Each is a complete, standalone award — one clinical system, taught in full, with an embedded leadership and governance strand. Take any one on its own.
Integrated DCRM
Diabetes, cardiac, renal and metabolic care as one connected system — anchored to AHA CKM staging and the DCRM 2.0 recommendations.
Explore the DCRM CASMenopause & Andropause
Extended-scope practice across the menopause transition and male hypogonadism, with safe, current prescribing at its core.
Explore the programmeHeadache & Migraine
Confident assessment and modern management of headache and migraine in primary care — including the CGRP era and safe red-flag triage.
Explore the programmeBuilt for primary care delivered in the neighbourhood
Care for the most common chronic conditions is moving closer to home, delivered by multi-professional teams working at the top of their competence. That shift only works if those teams are confident with the therapies and decisions that were, until recently, the preserve of specialists — the organ-protective medicines in cardiorenal-metabolic disease, safe hormone prescribing, structured headache management.
MD Acumen exists to close that confidence gap. A CAS gives a GP, prescribing pharmacist or advanced clinical practitioner a structured, assessed, extended-scope education in a defined clinical area — and, through the capstone, a tangible service improvement they can implement where they work. The result is measurable: better-supported clinicians, and care pathways that run more effectively.
Upskilling that counts
Education mapped to the NHS England multi-professional framework and the RCGP curriculum — supporting your portfolio and your day-to-day decisions.
Extended scope, done safely
Confidence to initiate and monitor the therapies modern guidelines expect — within clear governance and prescribing-safety boundaries.
Service improvement built in
The capstone runs in your own clinic, helping your team meet optimisation goals while you earn the award.
MD Acumen education supports your professional portfolio. Individual roles such as GP with Extended Role are conferred locally by your ICB against the relevant national framework; an academic award does not itself confer a practising role or specialist status.
A credential designed to travel
Because each CAS is awarded within the European Higher Education Area and carries ECTS credit, it is built to be understood and valued well beyond the UK.
ECTS is the common currency of academic credit across the European Higher Education Area and is widely referenced internationally through the diploma-supplement framework. Combined with UK-origin academic design, that makes an MD Acumen CAS a portable, recognisable marker of advanced study for clinicians and institutions in:
For international medical schools and employers. We work with partner institutions to deploy CAS programmes to their own clinicians and students, co-branded and integrated into their learning environment. Talk to us about an international cohort →
ECTS credits are designed to be internationally portable. Recognition of any specific overseas qualification is determined by the relevant institution or authority in each country; MD Acumen does not claim regulatory recognition that has not been confirmed in writing.
Find your programme
Choose a flagship CAS, or talk to us about a cohort for your team or school.
The CAS explained · Quality & Governance · Legal & Regulatory · enquiry@mdacumen.com