FdA Health and Social Care

• 40 UCAS points. Please see our guide to the UCAS Tariff for examples of how to achieve these points.
• Any subjects are acceptable at Level 3.
• You should also have five GCSEs at grade C or above or grade 4 to 9 (or equivalent) in any subjects.
• Entry to this course is also available to applicants who have extensive appropriate work experience in the health and social care sector. If you don’t possess the academic qualifications listed above but have extensive appropriate work experience we’ll be delighted to consider your application.
• You’ll be interviewed and complete a diagnostic exercise as part of the application process. You’ll also need to meet the other non-academic entry requirements listed below.
• Admission to this programme is only available to candidates who meet the following criteria. 1) You must be employed for a minimum of 23 hours per week in a role relevant to the programme. 2) You must have the right to live and work in the UK. 3) Your employer will need to agree to you participating in the programme.
• If you work for a large organisation in health and social care then you may want to enquire about the possibility of studying towards the FdA Health and Social Care (Assistant Practitioner: Higher Apprenticeship Route) instead.
• If you don’t have an appropriate work placement within the health and social care sector, but otherwise meet the entry requirements for this course please consider our BSc (Hons) Health and Social Care or HND Health and Social Care courses.
• Every application will be considered on its individual merits.
• This course involves regulated activity so you must gain an Enhanced Disclosure certificate from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) before starting your studies. Charges are payable to cover the cost of the DBS Enhanced Disclosure application and annual registration with the online (Normally your sponsoring organisation will organise this.) Please note that your DBS must have been completed within three years of the course start date.Update Service.
• If English isn’t your first language you’ll also need IELTS 6.0 with no less than 5.5 in any band (or equivalent). We also accept a range of other English language qualifications – please visit our English Language Requirements web page for more details.

Want some reassurance or advice? Speak to one of our advisors. Email us at admissions@bolton.ac.uk or call us on +44 (0)1204 903 394.

Where changes are made to material information contained in this course description or a decision is taken to suspend a course between the offer of admissions and enrolment, we will inform applicants at the earliest possible opportunity and will outline the various options available to the applicant.

This foundation degree can be of benefit to those wishing to further their career within health and social care services. It provides an excellent platform into a variety of roles within care homes, residential homes, voluntary organisations, special schools and agencies providing domiciliary care.

Some of the key transferable skills to be gained from this course include communication skills, teamwork, negotiation, the ability to present ideas and arguments, work independently, and reflect on and review progress.

What can I do with this qualification?

As a graduate, you’ll be able to use your skills in health and social care to seek employment within the youth justice system, NHS trusts, private hospitals, children's services, social services, family centres, and children's homes. You might also find work in the voluntary sector or with medical charities and not-for-profit organisations.

Further academic studies and professional training in a variety of fields including social work, teaching and allied health professions is a future consideration.

Graduates can also progress to the final year of the BA (Hons) Health and Social Care offered by the University of Bolton.

Alternative career options

Graduates can also use the qualification to enter a range of other careers, and for some of these roles, both relevant experience and/or postgraduate study may be required. Some of these careers include:

• Counselling
• Dietetics
• Writing and journalism
• Occupational therapy
• Mental health
• Social work
• Teaching and education
• Health promotion
• Mentoring
• Armed forces
• Community support
• Youth work
• Care home management
• Health services
• Child protection
• Early years

Important note regarding tuition fees for the 2021/2022 academic year: EU nationals who meet residency requirements (have settled or pre-settled status) may be eligible for ‘Home’ fee status. If you do not meet these residency requirements, overseas fees will apply. Irish citizens living in the UK or Ireland will be eligible for ‘Home’ fee status under the Common Travel Area arrangement. Please read the student finance eligibility 2021/2022 policy on www.gov.uk for information.

The fees for a student’s course of study will be set for the normal duration of that course subject only to inflationary increases – measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded in March each year to take effect for subsequent start dates.

For 2021-2022 entry, the maximum government approved undergraduate tuition fee for UK students is £9,250 per year. The University is able to charge this fee subject to an approved Access and Participation Plan for 2021-2022 and its current rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework.

Bursaries

Click here for more information about the scholarships and bursaries available to University of Bolton undergraduate students.

To make this course as engaging and beneficial as possible for you, we apply a range of learning, teaching and assessment methods designed to help you develop the skills, knowledge and competencies you’re aiming for. Just as importantly, we aim to help you develop the values and attitudes essential to good health and social care practice. Learning focuses on the workplace environment.

To complement lectures that introduce the course content, seminars and group-based activities allow you to explore subjects, policies and practices in greater detail. Tutorials give you the opportunity to clarify your understanding of the topics we cover in lectures and seminars, while we use case studies, practical scenarios and role-playing to help you apply your newly acquired knowledge and theory to real-life problems and gain valuable insights into health and social care practice. You’ll also have the chance to develop your practical skills in our clinical skills laboratory, and we’ll encourage you to use our extensive online learning resources to support your self-directed learning.

In addition, we offer masterclasses with practitioners from the health and social care sector, plus insightful sessions with guest speakers who either provide or use health and social care services.

Our assessment methods are designed to reflect what may one day be required of you in a health and social care setting. For example, the course requires you to submit written reports, give presentations, develop your practice portfolio, analyse care plans and review relevant literature, and analyse complex cases and discuss how to manage change. Meanwhile, we expect you to write essays and reflective accounts, take practical and written tests, and play an active part in group discussions. Some assessments contribute to your final module marks, while others are designed to help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, and where you can seek extra support from course tutors.

Modules

The modules listed below may be a mixture of compulsory and optional. You may not have the opportunity to study all the modules shown as part of the course.

• Communication and ICT
• Legal and Ethical Issues
• Introduction to Social Policy
• Mental Health and Well-Being
• Using Evidence
• Principles of Care
• Anatomy and Physiology for Health and Social Care
• Group Dynamics and Working in Teams
• Collaborative Health and Social Care
• Planning Care Delivery
• Health Promotion - Challenges and Opportunities
• Mental Health Care, Perspectives and Practice
• Working with Older People
• Disability and Society
• Working with Young People
• Clinical Skills
• Therapy Skills
• Children and Families
• Introduction to Psychology in Health and Social Care
• Management of Long-Term Conditions
• Acute Illness Management
• End of Life and Palliative Care
• Social Inclusion, Empowerment and Health
• Principles of Medicines Management
• Understanding and Working With Alcohol and Substance Misuse
• Mental Health and Wellbeing - Children and Young People
• Mindfulness and Equanimity in Practice Striking the Balance Between Compassionate Care for Self and Others
• Health and Applied Positive Psychology Interventions

Assessment methods

Learning activities

Disclaimer

The university will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver your course as described in its published material and the programme specification for the academic year in which you begin your course. The university considers changes to courses very carefully and the university will minimise any changes. Please be aware that our courses are subject to review on an ongoing basis and changes may be necessary due to legitimate staffing, financial, regulatory and academic reasons. The content of course modules and mode of associated assessments may be updated on an annual basis. This is to ensure that all modules are up-to-date and responsive to employment and sector needs. The published course material and the programme specification contain indicative ‘optional modules’ that may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control. For this reason, we cannot guarantee to run any specific optional module.