Undergraduate Course 

BSc (Hons)

Specialist Community Public Health Nursing

The best bits

  • Change the lives of children and their families within a fantastic profession
  • Gain a professional qualification in health visiting or occupational health nursing or school nursing
  • Build your understanding of clinical practice and wider public health
  • 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

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:

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. 

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Kedleston Road, Derby Campus

Big spaces for big ideas

Kedleston Road offers it all: study in our largest library, relax at Basecamp, train in real-world healthcare settings, and stay active in our state-of-the-art Sports Centre.

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What you will study

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’ll also have the opportunity to go on an additional placement of your choice for three weeks. Placement hours are subject to change.

You will study modules such as:

  • Evidence Based Project.
  • Leading for Quality
  • Principles of Practice Assessment
  • 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.

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.

Kedleston Road, Derby Campus entrance

Undergraduate Open Days

The best way to find out if studying at Derby is right for you is to experience an Open Day. Get a feel for the city and campus, tour our first-class facilities and see where you could be living.

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How you will learn

You’ll be taught in a variety of ways, such as clinical practical sessions, group discussions and lectures. You’ll spend half of your time on practice placement, so you’ll get the hands-on experience as well as learning the theory at University.

How you're assessed

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

Real world learning

External specialists in their field of practice actively the support the delivery of the programme. Examples include guest lecturers in the following areas:  Safeguarding, Child and Infant Feeding, Children in Care, Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Commissioning and many more.

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Helping you reach your full potential

Our Personal Academic Tutoring programme supports your academic journey, helping you achieve your goals and unlock your potential.

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Who will teach you

Erica Lloyd

Senior Lecturer in Postgraduate Health Care

Awaiting staff photo

Erica Lloyd

As a Senior Lecturer in Post Graduate Nursing Erica has been part of the Specialist Community Public Health Nursing team since 2019. As Pathway lead for the School Nursing, she supports this cohort of students both academically and in ...

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Neil Loach

Senior Lecturer in Post Graduate Health Care

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Neil Loach

Neil is an experienced Specialist Community Public Health Nurse in the field of Occupational Health.

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Entry requirements

2024 entry

These are the typical qualification requirements for September 2024 entry.

Contextual offers may apply to students who meet certain criteria.

RequirementWhat we're looking for
UCAS points80
A LevelCDD
BTECN/A
GCSEN/A
Access to HEN/A

To join the course you will need an NVQ (QCF) level 3 qualification or equivalent.

Additional entry requirements

English language requirements

IELTS: 6.0 (with at least 5.5 in each skills area)

Fees and funding

2025/26

 Full-timePart-time
UK

£9,535 per year

£1,190 per 20 credit module

International

N/A

N/A

Further information about our fees and support you may be entitled to.

How to apply

Please look at our application deadlines before you apply.


UK students

If you are in Year 13 and applying for a full-time undergraduate course (including our joint honours courses), we recommend that you apply through UCAS.

Apply through UCAS

If you are applying to study part-time, or already have your qualifications, or wish to join at Year 2 or 3, you should apply directly to the University.

Apply directly to the University

Careers

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:

Getting you career ready

Your degree is only part of your story.

We're here to help prepare you for life after university.

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96%
of UK graduates are in employment or further study.

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for employability.
Uni Compare Annual Student Review Rankings 2025.

87%
of UK graduates say their current activity is meaningful.

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.

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Additional information about your studies

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.

Course updates

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.

If you are thinking about transferring onto this course (into the second year for example), you should contact the programme leader for the relevant course information as modules may vary from those shown on this page.

Minimum numbers

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

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