Specialist Community Public Health Nursing (Health Visiting or Occupational Health Nursing or School Nursing)

• Gain a professional qualification in health visiting or occupational health nursing or school nursing
• Build your understanding of clinical practice, wider public health and leadership and management
• Develop specialist assessment, leadership and management skills.
• Develop and build on your existing knowledge to ensure that you meet the competencies set by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and you’re eligible to gain a registrable qualification
• Become part of the public health workforce working toward improving people's lives and their health outcomes
• Join with a degree at 1:1 or 2:1, having 120 credits at degree level or equivalent academic credits

This course is for NMC registered nurses who want to gain a professional qualification in health visiting or occupational health nursing or school nursing. If you have either a Diploma or Advanced Diploma in nursing studies this course can be studied at degree level to top up your qualification.

During this course you will:

• Develop the skills you need to become a practitioner in your own area of expertise, and work as a specialist public health nurse
• Learn how to share the core values of a practitioner with your colleagues to help them with their professional development
• Build up your skills in clinical practice, care and programme management, leadership, and public health, which will be essential when you become a practitioner
• Enhance your research skills that will help you to look at the quality of care in your current practice and suggest improvements
• Improve your understanding of professional roles and functions by networking, team building and communicating with other professionals.

Practice Assessment will encompass all the four domains of care, facilitation of learning, leadership and management, research and development.

We’re proud to say that our courses are closely mapped against the health and social care sector. This ensures that our curriculum is up-to-date, providing you with the assurance that your learning is current and relevant. This does mean that we do have to respond to national changes such as government policy. As a result, some of the information about our courses may change.

The Specialist Community Public Health Nurse Programme leading to Health Visitor or Occupational Health Nurse or School Nurse qualification accessed at Masters level gives you 120 credits at level 7 (Post Graduate Diploma).  You can undertake this full time (1year) or part time (up to 3 years). To complete the full MSC (Masters) you will need to gain funding or self-fund to undertake the additional 60 credits needed at level 7, which will take an additional year post HV/OHN or SN qualification.

By completing this programme you will be able to demonstrate a critical understanding of clinical practice, care and caseload management, clinical practice leadership and clinical practice development to enable you to become an independent prescriber. Whilst studying on this programme you will spend equal amounts of time in practice and the learning environment.

You will also have the opportunity to go on an additional placement of your choice for three weeks.

You will study modules such as:

• Evidence Based Project.
• Leading for Quality
• Principles of Practice Assessment or Diagnostic Reasoning in Clinical Practice.
• Public Health and Health Promotion

You will also have the opportunity to choose two other modules from a range of options including V100 Prescribing, V300 Non-Medical; Prescribing, Child Development, Clinical supervision and many more.

MSc

You will study this module to gain the full MSc:

• Independent Scholarship

This research based module will allow an in-depth exploration of a specific area of practice. You will study this module over a year to gain the full MSc. Self-funding is required for this stage.

Please note that our modules are subject to change - we review the content of our courses regularly, making changes where necessary to improve your experience and graduate prospects.

During this course you will study in University and independently for 50% of your time and the other 50% of the time will be within a placement setting.

We will teach you in a variety of ways, such as:

• Role modelling
• Exposure to evidence-based practice
• Group discussions
• Presentations
• Lectures
• Action learning sets.

When you’ve completed the course you will have developed the skills you will need to become an effective specialist nurse in your chosen area of expertise.

To complete the Postgraduate Diploma stage this course will take you one year of full time study or two years of part time study, subject to your Strategic Health Authority contract. The MSc stage takes a further year. Half of your time will be spent on a placement, so you will get hands-on experience, as well as learning the theory.

How you're assessed

You will be assessed through exams, observations, assignments, presentation and a practice portfolio. You will also be assessed on your placement by your practice teacher.

This course is for NMC registered nurses who want to gain a professional qualification in either health visiting, occupational health nursing or school nursing. If you have either a Diploma or Advanced Diploma in nursing studies this course can be studied at degree level to top up your qualification.

To study this course you must:

• Hold a current nurse or midwife qualification and have a current registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council
• Possess a degree at 1:1 or 2:1 having 120 credits at degree level or equivalent academic credits or Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)
• Have gained a student Health Visitor or Occupational Health Nurse or School Nurse position from a seconding/sponsoring organisation
• Have at least one-year post registration experience due to the requirements of the V100 prescribing component and 2 years if taking the V300 non-medical prescribing qualification (NMC)

It is the Employers responsibility to ensure that any necessary Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks and health checks are carried out, proof of this and indemnity will be required prior to commencement of the Programme. The student will have successfully applied for a clinical secondment/sponsorship with a local Care Provider/employer prior to applying for this Programme.

2024/25 (August 2024 - July 2025)

Please note fees normally increase in line with inflation and the University's strategic approach to fees, which is reviewed on an annual basis. The total fee you pay may therefore increase after one year of study.

* UK full-time fees paid within one academic year are rounded down to the nearest £50 if applicable

Additional costs and optional extras

About postgraduate awards

Please note at postgraduate level, you’ll need to gain the following number of credits in total to obtain the respective awards. If you have any questions please contact us.

This means you will gain 180 credits in total to complete the full MA or MSc. If you are studying part time you will normally complete your studies over two or three years, depending on the course structure.

Funding your studies

Find out more about fees, postgraduate loans and support you may be entitled to.

Find out about funding your studiesFind out about funding your studies

Alumni discount for Derby graduates

We offer a discount on postgraduate course fees for all Derby alumni.

Find out about the Alumni discountFind out about the Alumni discount

When you have completed this course, you will be able to apply for registration on part three of the Nursing and Midwifery Council register. This will allow you to practice as a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse in the UK.

When you graduate you will:

• Have the skills to become an effective specialist nurse in your chosen area of expertise
• Be committed to lifelong learning, encourage colleagues to be, and contribute to national debates
• Be able to master clinical practice, care and programme management, clinical practice leadership, and clinical practice development
• Show leadership and have a critical in depth knowledge of professional roles and functions, so you can bring about integrated and high quality health and social care, through working with other professionals effectively, networking and team working

Have knowledge and skills in evaluating current research and evidence based practice so you can influence and deliver high quality care. 

Contact us

If you need any more information from us, eg on courses, accommodation, applying, car parking, fees or funding, please contact us and we will do everything we can to help you.

Additional information about your studies

Download programme specification

Teaching hours

Like most universities, we operate extended teaching hours at the University of Derby, so contact time with your lecturers and tutors could be anytime between 9am and 9pm. Your timetable will usually be available on the website 24 hours after enrolment on to your course.

Additional costs and optional extras

We’re committed to providing you with an outstanding learning experience. Our expert teaching, excellent facilities and great employability prepare you for your future career. As part of our commitment to you we aim to keep any additional study costs to a minimum. However, there are occasions where students may incur some additional costs.

The information provided on this page is correct at the time of publication but course content, costs and other individual course details do change from time to time and are updated as often as possible, so please do check these pages again when making your final decision to apply for a course. Any updated course details will also be confirmed to you at application, enrolment and in your offer letter.

Included in your fees

Commissioned programme employer-funded/self-funded for Occupational Health Nurses.

Minimum numbers

Please note that this course is subject to minimum numbers in order to run.