Skip navigation

If you’d like to receive the latest updates from Northumbria about our courses, events, finance & funding then enter your details below.

* At Northumbria we are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of personal data. To view the University’s Privacy Notice please click here

CLOSE

Course Information

Level of Study

Undergraduate

Mode of Study

2 years Part Time

Department

Nursing, Midwifery & Health

Location

Coach Lane Campus, Northumbria University

City

Newcastle

Start

September 2025

Fees

Fee Information

Modules

Module Information

GOOD UNIVERSITY GUIDE 2025 MODERN UNIVERSITY OF THE YEAR

Overview

The Professional Practice in health programme supports learners who wish to advance their knowledge, understanding and skills in the areas of healthcare practice through Continuous Professional Development (CPD).

This programme, delivered by Northumbria University is an opportunity to study a bespoke and newly developed curriculum specifically for those working in healthcare practice.

The programme reflects contemporary healthcare practice, and you will learn alongside other practitioners from a variety of professional backgrounds. This programme will enable you to develop an understanding of theory related to your field of healthcare practice and explore the impact of this within your organisation, team and as an individual situated in practice.

It will enable you to enhance your practice at the same time as gaining an award. On completion you will be awarded a BSc (Hons) Professional Practice in Health (Leadership and Management).

The programme provides a flexible method of study for you to that fits around your healthcare role. 

The programme will encourage you to build upon previous practice-based knowledge, experience, and academic learning in relation to key ideas such as the acquisition and uncertainty of knowledge, its ambiguity and limitations, and critical reflective thinking.

On successful completion of the programme, you will be able to:

  • Critically synthesise theoretical perspectives and disseminate the evidence base for contemporary healthcare practice
  • Critically apply reflective theory to your own and others practice
  • Evaluate and explore expertise and act autonomously within your discipline of healthcare practice
  • Manage risk assessment to deal with complex situations systematically and creatively within healthcare practice
  • Develop and utilise a flexible approach to your practice arena and contextualised within local and national policy and guidelines
  • Demonstrate self-direction and autonomous planning for the development of lifelong learning
  • Critically evaluate healthcare practice provision to work effectively as part of the wider team utilising own and others leadership roles
  • Understand the application of ethical and legal principles across professional practice
  • Generate new knowledge through research endeavour; conceptualising, theorising and undertaking research to advance healthcare practice
HEALTH

Professional Practice in Health

DISCOVER MORE
Entry Requirements Modules Overview Fees, Funding  and Scholarships

Entry Requirements 2025/26

Standard Entry

Applicants should normally have:

A Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE) or Advanced Diploma for degree entry, or an honours degree for graduate certificate entry.

Applicants must be working in health and social practice and hold appropriate registration with a relevant professional body such as the NMC or HCPC, or have a professional qualification relating to their area of practice.

The university accepts Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) for entry onto the programme subject to approval by the Programme Leader.

English Language Requirements:

International applicants should have a minimum overall IELTS (Academic) score of 7.0 with 7.0 in each component (or an approved equivalent*).

*The university accepts a large number of UK and International Qualifications in place of IELTS. You can find details of acceptable tests and the required grades in our English Language section: www.northumbria.ac.uk/englishqualifications

Fees and Funding 2025/26 Entry

UK Fee in Year 1: TBC

* This is the tuition fee for your first year of study. You should expect to pay tuition fees for every year of study. The University may increase fees in the second and subsequent years of your course at our discretion in line with any inflationary or other uplift, as decided by the UK Government, up to the maximum amount for fees permitted by UK law or regulation for that academic year. To give students an indication of the likely scale of any future increase, the UK government has recently suggested that increases may be linked to RPIX ( Retail Price Index excluding mortgage interest payments)



International Fee in Year 1: TBC


Please see the main Funding Pages for 25/26 scholarship information.

 


ADDITIONAL COSTS

There are no Additional Costs

Modules Overview 2025/26

Modules

Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.

Year one Year two

Year one

AC6784 -

Managing Strategic thinking in Healthcare (Core,20 Credits)

This module will focus on the theoretical concepts and phases of strategic thinking in health and social practice. The module content will encourage your own cognitive development, exploring this within the context of a critical exploration of the development of your own practice area. The module will further critically examine the complexity of strategic thinking, goal setting, planning and resourcing, exploring assumptions related to existing knowledge, current research evidence, policy and empirical evidence. You will be considering and exploring logic, and creative approaches to problem solving, encouraging and developing your proactive application of strategic thinking in an effective way. You will learn about models and frameworks of strategic thinking, applying and considering this in the context of your own area of professional practice. This will also entail the consideration of communication and engagement strategy across a range of organisations. The exploration of these principles will enable you to access strategies and behaviours for strategic thinking, assisting your development of solution focused approaches to challenges faced within healthcare practice.

More information

AC6786 -

Leading Quality and Service Improvement in Practice (Core,20 Credits)

This module is for students on the BSc (Hons) Professional Practice in Health programme. This module will help you advance your knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to leading practice in your own professional field. You will have the opportunity to identify an area of contemporary practice with a focus on quality improvement, seeking to improve service user outcomes through the systematic review of services against specific criteria. Following this, recommendations for service improvement are identified. You will have the opportunity to plan and complete an evaluation, sourcing and critiquing a range of relevant contemporary evidence, apply leadership and change theories and contextualise learning in order to prepare you for leading practice. The module content will include, clinical evaluation approaches, leadership and change theory, development of strategic leadership skills and networking, promotion of research-based practice and integration of research and theory to practice. You will have the opportunity to apply and relate what you learn on the module towards your academic assessment, which is the development and presentation of a poster similar to those presented at a conference.

More information

AC6787 -

Understanding and development of evidence for practice (Core,20 Credits)

On this module, you will learn and develop your critical skills to become an informed and reflective consumer of evidence and research within the context of contemporary health and social care practice. You will explore and critically evaluate differing philosophies and methodologies underpinning evidence, assessing its quality and applicability to health and social care provision.

The module will enhance your ability to examine the politics of evidence-based practice, analysing how assumptions and contextual factors influence healthcare delivery. Through engaging with real-world examples and case studies you will gain advanced skills in synthesising knowledge, theory, and evidence to inform your professional decision-making and enhance your practice.

You will also develop the ability to critically appraise practice examples, exploring the practical implications of applying evidence-based approaches. The module will also support you to build competencies in presentation, negotiation, and networking - essential professional skills in health and social practice environments.

This module is designed to constructively challenge you and encourage critical thinking and reflection, equipping you with the tools to improve both your practice and your ability to engage in lifelong learning.

More information

Year two

AC6784 -

Managing Strategic thinking in Healthcare (Core,20 Credits)

This module will focus on the theoretical concepts and phases of strategic thinking in health and social practice. The module content will encourage your own cognitive development, exploring this within the context of a critical exploration of the development of your own practice area. The module will further critically examine the complexity of strategic thinking, goal setting, planning and resourcing, exploring assumptions related to existing knowledge, current research evidence, policy and empirical evidence. You will be considering and exploring logic, and creative approaches to problem solving, encouraging and developing your proactive application of strategic thinking in an effective way. You will learn about models and frameworks of strategic thinking, applying and considering this in the context of your own area of professional practice. This will also entail the consideration of communication and engagement strategy across a range of organisations. The exploration of these principles will enable you to access strategies and behaviours for strategic thinking, assisting your development of solution focused approaches to challenges faced within healthcare practice.

More information

AC6788 -

Improving outcomes in healthcare (Core,40 Credits)

Drawing on contemporary literature, you will explore the use of logic models, theories of organisational change and quality improvement, and their relevance in a health and social care context. You will identify the importance of patient and public involvement, the principles of co-production, knowledge mobilisation and implementation science in improving outcomes. You will learn and develop your extended project skills, identifying and evaluating practice on an organisational, social, and political level. You will examine the impact of health and social care interventions on outcomes for your patients, clients, or service users. You will demonstrate your ability to evaluate, critically analyse and apply knowledge in a health and social care practice context. The value of this analysis and knowledge application will be specifically linked to the impact it has on the outcomes of your client group. You will learn how to relate policy and legislative drivers to health and social care practice delivery ensuring that evidence-informed practice is applied across a range of client groups and contexts. The module will encourage you to consolidate the knowledge, skills and abilities developed throughout the programme in a final project, displaying your development in health and social care practice, contextualised to your specific area of practice.

More information

Modules Overview 2026/27

Modules

Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.

Year one Year two

Year one

AC6784 -

Managing Strategic thinking in Healthcare (Core,20 Credits)

This module will focus on the theoretical concepts and phases of strategic thinking in health and social practice. The module content will encourage your own cognitive development, exploring this within the context of a critical exploration of the development of your own practice area. The module will further critically examine the complexity of strategic thinking, goal setting, planning and resourcing, exploring assumptions related to existing knowledge, current research evidence, policy and empirical evidence. You will be considering and exploring logic, and creative approaches to problem solving, encouraging and developing your proactive application of strategic thinking in an effective way. You will learn about models and frameworks of strategic thinking, applying and considering this in the context of your own area of professional practice. This will also entail the consideration of communication and engagement strategy across a range of organisations. The exploration of these principles will enable you to access strategies and behaviours for strategic thinking, assisting your development of solution focused approaches to challenges faced within healthcare practice.

More information

AC6786 -

Leading Quality and Service Improvement in Practice (Core,20 Credits)

This module is for students on the BSc (Hons) Professional Practice in Health programme. This module will help you advance your knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to leading practice in your own professional field. You will have the opportunity to identify an area of contemporary practice with a focus on quality improvement, seeking to improve service user outcomes through the systematic review of services against specific criteria. Following this, recommendations for service improvement are identified. You will have the opportunity to plan and complete an evaluation, sourcing and critiquing a range of relevant contemporary evidence, apply leadership and change theories and contextualise learning in order to prepare you for leading practice. The module content will include, clinical evaluation approaches, leadership and change theory, development of strategic leadership skills and networking, promotion of research-based practice and integration of research and theory to practice. You will have the opportunity to apply and relate what you learn on the module towards your academic assessment, which is the development and presentation of a poster similar to those presented at a conference.

More information

AC6787 -

Understanding and development of evidence for practice (Core,20 Credits)

On this module, you will learn and develop your critical skills to become an informed and reflective consumer of evidence and research within the context of contemporary health and social care practice. You will explore and critically evaluate differing philosophies and methodologies underpinning evidence, assessing its quality and applicability to health and social care provision.

The module will enhance your ability to examine the politics of evidence-based practice, analysing how assumptions and contextual factors influence healthcare delivery. Through engaging with real-world examples and case studies you will gain advanced skills in synthesising knowledge, theory, and evidence to inform your professional decision-making and enhance your practice.

You will also develop the ability to critically appraise practice examples, exploring the practical implications of applying evidence-based approaches. The module will also support you to build competencies in presentation, negotiation, and networking - essential professional skills in health and social practice environments.

This module is designed to constructively challenge you and encourage critical thinking and reflection, equipping you with the tools to improve both your practice and your ability to engage in lifelong learning.

More information

Year two

AC6784 -

Managing Strategic thinking in Healthcare (Core,20 Credits)

This module will focus on the theoretical concepts and phases of strategic thinking in health and social practice. The module content will encourage your own cognitive development, exploring this within the context of a critical exploration of the development of your own practice area. The module will further critically examine the complexity of strategic thinking, goal setting, planning and resourcing, exploring assumptions related to existing knowledge, current research evidence, policy and empirical evidence. You will be considering and exploring logic, and creative approaches to problem solving, encouraging and developing your proactive application of strategic thinking in an effective way. You will learn about models and frameworks of strategic thinking, applying and considering this in the context of your own area of professional practice. This will also entail the consideration of communication and engagement strategy across a range of organisations. The exploration of these principles will enable you to access strategies and behaviours for strategic thinking, assisting your development of solution focused approaches to challenges faced within healthcare practice.

More information

AC6788 -

Improving outcomes in healthcare (Core,40 Credits)

Drawing on contemporary literature, you will explore the use of logic models, theories of organisational change and quality improvement, and their relevance in a health and social care context. You will identify the importance of patient and public involvement, the principles of co-production, knowledge mobilisation and implementation science in improving outcomes. You will learn and develop your extended project skills, identifying and evaluating practice on an organisational, social, and political level. You will examine the impact of health and social care interventions on outcomes for your patients, clients, or service users. You will demonstrate your ability to evaluate, critically analyse and apply knowledge in a health and social care practice context. The value of this analysis and knowledge application will be specifically linked to the impact it has on the outcomes of your client group. You will learn how to relate policy and legislative drivers to health and social care practice delivery ensuring that evidence-informed practice is applied across a range of client groups and contexts. The module will encourage you to consolidate the knowledge, skills and abilities developed throughout the programme in a final project, displaying your development in health and social care practice, contextualised to your specific area of practice.

More information

Module Overview

Modules previously available as single modules are now incorporated into our Professional Practice in Health programme where they can be used to build an award or studied alone using a single refined application process.

Our module offering consists of a variety of clinical, leadership and management and research options, depending on your chosen programme route. You will be encouraged to build your award from our suite of core modules towards a BSc (Hons) Professional Practice in Health. 

There are no option modules for BSc (Hons) Professional Practice in Health (Leadership and Management).

Dependant on the entry point the BSc (Hons) totals 120 credits at level 6 if entering with DipHE and 60 credits at level 6 if entering with and Advanced DipHE . The Graduate Certificate totals any 60 academic credits at level 6.

Your programme route will be in discussion with your workplace organisation and based on your future and anticipated career trajectory and interests. Advice will be available from the programme lead or personal tutor throughout the programme with flexibility and choice at the foundation of your selections.

Teaching Staff

Learning and teaching is delivered by experienced research active academics and clinicians, who hold international expertise and extensive clinical experience, emphasising a research rich approach which underpins programme content.

Members of module teams can be contacted to offer support as requested. The Programme Lead, Personal Tutor and Module Tutor are also available to offer guidance on academic development throughout the programme.

Learning Environment

During the induction period, you will have access to online sessions and materials which will identify expectations in relation to level 6 academic study highlighting details about the programme content and structure. This will include timetables, assessments policies, marking criteria and other key academic information.

As part of the induction process you will also be guided to additional support available through the Library’s Skills Plus site, for areas including academic writing, referencing, critical review and writing, research techniques and methods, applied research, reflection and review.

Each module is supported by Blackboard Ultra, each site includes all relevant information for assessment, online supported learning, power-point/Panopto presentations, e-lectures, reading lists, and relevant web links. The live online seminars will be accessed via Blackboard Ultra’s collaborate function.

Northumbria University Libraries at both Coach Lane and City Campus have an extensive collection of material, both hard copy and electronic, access to international databases and study skills support which can be accessed via the library webpage. Here at Northumbria University we also have a Graduate Futures Team who deliver a wide range of student support activities, which you will also be able to access. Their support can be found via the Graduate Futures webpage.

An Academic Language Skills module is available to help those whose first language is not English, or who have no experience of studying in English in the UK. It is designed to enhance your study skills by assisting with understanding assessment briefs and by developing your language and communication skills in a UK university environment.  These skills will help you gain a higher level of achievement in written assignments, and help you prepare for presentations on your programme.  You will be provided with information on the Academic Language Skills at induction.

Healthcare

Facilities

Discover our Clinical Skills Centre and more

First person tour through the clinical skills facilities at Coach Lane Campus

Your Career

As a student in this programme, you are likely already employed within a healthcare setting.

These organisations, which invest in this programme to support ongoing workforce development, are assessing funding and employment needs to enhance workforce capabilities. This programme is designed to advance your role within the workforce, equipping you with both academic and clinical knowledge and skills. These enhanced competencies will prepare you to take full advantage of opportunities in emerging roles, and you’ll be encouraged to align with your employer’s organisational vision.

With a strong emphasis on independent, authentic learning, teamwork, critical reflection, and self-awareness, in alignment with UDL principles this programme supports your growth in employability and leadership within the evolving landscape of healthcare practice. For those seeking further professional development, the programme also provides a pathway toward doctoral study, keeping you at the forefront of contemporary healthcare practice.

In addition, Northumbria University students have exclusive access to the Graduate Futures Team with interactive resources to help explore career options, develop your CV, complete practice aptitude tests, undertake interview simulations and review e-learning resources on a wide range of career topics. Further information can be found via the Graduate Futures webpage.

All information is accurate at the time of sharing. 

Full time Courses are primarily delivered via on-campus face to face learning but could include elements of online learning. Most courses run as planned and as promoted on our website and via our marketing materials, but if there are any substantial changes (as determined by the Competition and Markets Authority) to a course or there is the potential that course may be withdrawn, we will notify all affected applicants as soon as possible with advice and guidance regarding their options. It is also important to be aware that optional modules listed on course pages may be subject to change depending on uptake numbers each year.  

Contact time is subject to increase or decrease in line with possible restrictions imposed by the government or the University in the interest of maintaining the health and safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors if this is deemed necessary in future.

 

Useful Links

Find out about our distinctive approach at 
www.northumbria.ac.uk/exp

Admissions Terms and Conditions
northumbria.ac.uk/terms
Fees and Funding
northumbria.ac.uk/fees
Admissions Policy
northumbria.ac.uk/adpolicy

Admissions Complaints Policy
northumbria.ac.uk/complaints



If you’d like to receive the latest updates from Northumbria about our courses, events, finance & funding then enter your details below.

* At Northumbria we are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of personal data. To view the University’s Privacy Notice please click here

Back to top