The BSc (Hons) Health and Social Care Studies Top Up programme supports applicants who hold a foundation degree, or who have studied an equivalent level 4/5 health and social care, earn an Honours degree. The programme is designed for students who aim to work in non-registered roles across health and social care organisations.

This programme will prepare you to contribute to and lead organisations and services in emerging integrated health and social care roles, enabling you to develop an understanding of the complexities of working in the health and social care sector. It will allow you to gain analytical techniques and problem-solving skills that can be applied in many types of employment within these sectors.

This programme has been designed in response to rapidly changing workforce demands and policy initiatives aimed at modernising services and improving quality, productivity and efficiency. Much of your learning will beat the current boundaries of both academic and practice-based thinking.

You will be encouraged to build on your previous experience and learning to engage with the rapidly changing context of health and social care by studying topics such as;

Leadership

Co-production

Using research

Use of technology in health and social care

Organisational change

Wellbeing

Safeguarding

By the end of the course, you have…

A broad and comparative knowledge of the general scope of the health and social care sector, its different areas and applications, and an understanding of the tension that exists within interactions between different parts of the sector.

An awareness of the provisional nature of knowledge and the limitations within current thinking and service provision across health and social care.

Knowledge, understanding and skills, in identifying and analysing problems and issues and in formulating, evaluating and applying evidence-based solutions and arguments.

An understanding of the importance of effective multi-agency working and collaboration.

By the end of the course, you can…

Understand the essential theories, principles and concepts that underpin thinking within the health and social care sector and of the ways in which these are developed through the main methods of enquiry.

Gather, evaluate, analyse and present information, ideas, concepts and quantitative and/or qualitative data, drawing on a wide range of current sources.

Communicate the results of studies and other work accurately and reliably in a range of different contexts to an integrated health and social care sector audience.

Identify and address your own learning needs, including being able to draw on a wide range of current research, development and professional thinking within the sector.

By the end of the course, you will be able to demonstrate…

Application of subject and transferable skills to contexts where criteria for decisions and the scope of the task may be well defined but where personal responsibility, initiative and decision-making is also required.

Awareness of the importance of ethical and sustainable practice values in the context of health and social care settings

An understanding of the ideas, methods, and analytical techniques in health and social care to carry out projects with support

Problem solving skills that can be applied in different situations

The course provides a principal route for the training and education of assistant practitioners (non-registered support staff working with registered health professionals) and other non-registered posts, who have developed roles in a wide range of services. Many students go on to further study including gaining post graduate qualifications in teaching and social work.

This course is also suitable for those wishing to pursue a career in health and social care, but who are either unsure about which field of practice they wish to work within or are perhaps not eligible to access a pre-registration course.