Mental Health Nursing, BSc (Hons)

Course summary

The Mental Health Nursing BSc (Hons) course is intended specifically to prepare you for a rewarding career where you can support people with their mental health. It is designed to help equip you with the hands-on clinical and care skills to prepare you to practise autonomously and compassionately, providing person-centred and compassionate care and support for service users to be physically safe and emotionally secure.Fully accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) providing eligibility for registration as a nurse on successful completion of the course (additional costs may apply).Ranked 11th in the UK for Nursing and Midwifery in the Guardian University Guide 2022.All home students on this course can apply for a minimum payment from the Government of £5,000 per year, with additional payments for students incurring childcare costs*Study in the state-of-the-art Alison Gingell Building which features hospital wards, operating theatre, critical care settings, community housing and other real-life nursing environments relevant to practice*Key Course BenefitsMental health nursing is a values-based profession working with children, young people and adults of all ages with a variety of mental health problems and from numerous cultures and backgrounds. These specialist nurses are usually based in hospitals or work in the community, for example, in community services, in-patient facilities, specialist forensic mental health services, residential care and patients’ own homes.

• This course aims to develop your knowledge of mental health, various disorders and innovative nursing care approaches. It is designed to equip you with the knowledge and competence to understand the experiences of people with mental health problems and to assist and facilitate their journey to recovery.

• A key element of this course is that your six placements5 will be relevant to mental health - we do not use ‘generic’ placements. You will gain hands-on experience with real service users under supervision from qualified practitioners, spending 50% of your time on clinical practice placements. These will take place in a range of healthcare environments within the NHS in hospitals and community placements, at private hospitals and independent care providers. In the past we have also been able to offer specialist placements to services such as Broadmoor high security hospital to students with an interest in this area of work. While the placements on this course are all sourced by the university, please note that additional costs may be incurred in this regard, for example, travel costs, accommodation and visa costs depending on your specific circumstances.

• While the course has a clear focus on mental health nursing, a key benefit of our curriculum is the notion of collaboration across all areas of health and social care. Your studies will be complemented with significant insights into a range of potential challenges to health and wellbeing throughout the lifespan, such as learning disabilities, complex care and life-limiting conditions. These collaborative elements, which you’ll study alongside students from our other health-related courses, have been developed in response to the need to produce professionals who are effective communicators, caring and compassionate, with good relationship-building skills.

• Throughout your studies, in groups and individually, you will undertake profession specific health and social care related projects and case studies. These may, for example, include an appraisal of the role of the nurse in ethical and legal decision-making, considering service improvement bids or complex care planning and delivery via the multi-disciplinary team. You will also participate in a group poster presentation demonstrating your understanding of research underpinning patient care.