BSc (Hons) Community Specialist Practice (District Nursing) HE6 top-up

• Partner organisations sponsor places on this course. Our partner NHS Trusts usually advertise available district nursing training opportunities in-house. They may also advertise them on the NHS Jobs website at https://www.jobs.nhs.uk/. Please contact the programme leader for details of the application procedure. You can find their name, email address and phone number in the Programme Contacts section of this page.
• You must have an active entry on Part 1 of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Professional Register.
• You’ll also need at least 120 credit points at Level HE4 and 120 credit points at Level HE5, or AP(E)L equivalent (see explanation below). For instance, you may have a Foundation Degree, HND or Diploma in Nursing.
• You must also have one year's post-registration experience of professional practice.
• You’ll be required to produce satisfactory professional and academic references, pass Occupational Health screening and a DBS.
• You'll be required to successfully complete an online numeracy test achieving the pass mark of 80% unless you already have a current NMC recorded prescribing qualification. This numeracy assessment will be undertaken with support from a representative from your sponsoring organisation who will provide the University with confirmation of completion.
• Accreditation of Prior (Experiential) Learning (AP(E)L) information – are considered when deciding on any advanced standing to which you may be entitled. This may be based on qualifications you’ve already gained (Accreditation of Prior Learning – APL) or it may be based on making a claim for significant work experience (Accreditation of Prior Learning – APEL). The process of granting you appropriate advanced standing will be overseen by the programme lead for this course and an AP(E)L panel. When making a claim for APL against a relevant academic module you’ll be required to produce evidence in your professional portfolio that demonstrates how your prior learning relates to your impending role as a community specialist practitioner in district nursing.
• AP(E)L for exemptions from modules in this course – NMC Standards permit no more than a third of a programme to be credited on the basis of prior learning. Any applications for accreditation of prior learning will be considered prior to admission, on an individual basis, by the APL panel. Claims need to demonstrate achievement of learning outcomes in theory and practice as defined by PgDip Community Specialist Practice (District Nursing) module specifications.
• 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.
• You’ll be required to attend an interview and provide a portfolio of work evidence.
• Please note that this course is subject to the University of Bolton's Fitness to Practise procedure.

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.

You’ll have the opportunity to develop skills of critical reflection and learn to adopt a rigorous approach to planning and evaluation of care and care programmes, as well as employing a range of clinical, educational and public health interventions in a skilled and sensitive manner. You’ll also be supported to undertake care and programme management and provide leadership within appropriate team situations. In addition, you’ll be encouraged to examine factors that promote or inhibit effective collaborative working.

Furthermore, you’ll be guided to display the values required in modern healthcare, such as compassion, advocacy, good communication and teamwork skills, and respect for patients’ privacy, dignity and individuality.

What can I do with this qualification?

This course provides training for community specialist practitioners in district nursing. On successful completion of the BSc (Hons), you’ll have your name recorded on part 1 of the NMC's professional register as a Specialist Practitioner (DN) and a nurse prescriber within the context of district nursing. Opportunities arising from this qualification include professional posts in community health care settings and supporting the management of out of hospital care.

After qualifying and gaining some experience, there are a variety of routes you could take as the next step in your career. You could lead a team and, with experience, you could progress to community sister/matron or work in community palliative care. Some nurses decide to go into management or clinical academic research.

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:

• Teaching and education
• Public health
• Health care management
• Armed forces
• Clinical research
• Health promotion
• Occupational health
• Overseas aid and development
• Prisons
• Holiday companies
• Charity sector
• Medical communications
• Medical writing
• Counselling
• Mental health

Important note regarding tuition fees for the 2023-2024 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 for EU students web page 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 2023-2024 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 2023-2024 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 students.

Teaching staff on the BSc (Hons) Community Specialist Practice (District Nursing) course use blended approaches to learning that combine direct and online techniques. The aim of these combined methods is to extend your previous professional practice education so that you can develop, contribute to and improve the quality of community health nursing.

To reflect the NMC’s Standards for Specialist Education and Practice, this course splits theory and practice learning equally. During lectures, you’ll be introduced to the relevant theory of your field, which will be built on via seminar discussions, presentations, simulations delivered by tutors, group workshops and tutorials. In the practice setting, a programme of learning and experience will be developed by an appropriately qualified and experienced practitioner (a Practice Assessor and Practice Supervisor) who will also responsible for assessing your competence.

You’ll also be expected to spend time using the virtual learning environment, Moodle, where you can utilise learning resources like podcasts and video presentations, and regularly engage in self-directed study like preparing for seminars and reading around your subject.

Assessment takes various forms, including essays, reports, portfolios, critical reflection, presentations and exams, including objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE). The assessment strategies used may differ depending on the module and its intended learning outcomes.

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.

• Critical Evaluation for Evidence Based Practice
• Exploring Public Health
• Community Nurse Prescribing (V100)
• Professional Practice (District Nursing)
• Innovation in Health Care Leadership and Management
• Multidisciplinary End of Life Care
• Contemporary Mental Health
• Contemporary Approaches to Dementia Care
• Clinical Examination Skills
• Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults

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.