General Practice Nursing - Module / MSc / PgCert / PgDip
Currently viewing course to start in 2025/26 Entry.
Aimed at Senior and established General Practice Nurses, this MSc course offers General Practice Nurses opportunity to advance their careers through choosing from a variety of general practice focused modules to complete a PG Certificate/ PG Diploma or full MSc qualification....
- Level Postgraduate Taught
- Study mode Part Time
- Award Module / MSc / PgCert / PgDip
- Start date September 2025
- Fees View course fees
- Subject
- Location Online Learning
This course is:
Overview
Aimed at Senior and established General Practice Nurses, this MSc course offers General Practice Nurses opportunity to advance their careers through choosing from a variety of general practice focused modules to complete a PG Certificate/ PG Diploma or full MSc qualification.
This course is unique in providing General Practice Nurses with options for a variety of career pathways in the primary care setting. Our General Practice Nursing pathway will enable you to be responsive to developments in primary care and to take on leadership roles in this arena.
What's covered in this course?
The course enables students to choose from a variety of modules to pursue areas of interest or specific career pathways.
Core modules in year 1 include:
- Challenges to Health and the Impact of Inequalities: A General Practice Population Assessment
- Quality, Strategy and Policy: Issues in General Practice
Core modules in year 2 include:
- Research: Methods of Enquiry
- Leadership Skills and Project Management for Health and Healthcare
A wide range of optional modules are available including Caring for People with Long Term Conditions in the General Practice Setting; Non-Medical Prescribing and a range of other subjects including mental health, wound care, safeguarding.
Why Choose Us?
- Flexible course delivery – our virtual and blended learning offering allows you to fit your studies around your family and work commitments
- Supported by Health Education England – we are one of just seven institutions chosen to deliver this innovative new course
- Birmingham is one of the UK’s most diverse cities outside of London, which will provide you with a wide variety of experience that will be valuable to take forward into your future career.
OPEN DAY
Join us for a Virtual Open Event where you'll be able to learn about this course in detail, meet our subject academics and learn more about postgraduate finance, all from the comfort of your own home.
Next Event: 5 February 2025
Entry Requirements
Essential requirements
UK students
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Registered Nurse (Adult, Child, Mental Health or Learning Disability and |
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Employed in General Practice (all students must be working in an appropriate environment in order to fully engage with the chosen modules). |
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For entry into the Post Graduate Certificate students must have a relevant Bachelor’s degree or equivalent or a 60 credit Level 6 award in an appropriate subject area. Applicants with evidence of successfully completed Level 6 study within the preceding 2 years and a minimum of 5 years’ experience in the pathway speciality will also be considered. |
Additionally
In addition, students undertaking clinical subject pathway modules will normally have a minimum of six months post-registration experience for that speciality.
If you have a qualification that is not listed, please contact us.
Fees & How to Apply
UK students
Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.
Award: Module
Starting: Sep 2025
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Part Time
- 12 weeks
- £860 per 20 credit module
Award: MSc
Starting: Sep 2025
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Part Time
- 3 years
- £860 per 20 credit module
Award: PgCert
Starting: Sep 2025
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Part Time
- 1 year
- £860 per 20 credit module
Award: PgDip
Starting: Sep 2025
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Part Time
- 2 years
- £860 per 20 credit module
International students
Sorry, this course is not available to International students.
Personal statement
You’ll need to submit a personal statement as part of your application for this course. This will need to highlight your passion for postgraduate study – and your chosen course – as well as your personal skills and experience, academic success, and any other factors that will support your application for further study.
If you are applying for a stand alone module, please include the title of the module you want to study in your Personal Statement.
Not sure what to include? We’re here to help – take a look at our top tips for writing personal statements and download our free postgraduate personal statement guide for further advice and examples from real students.
Course in Depth
Year 1 - PG Cert
This single module is designed for senior primary care nurses. Completion of this module will enable you to expand your knowledge, skills, confidence and capability in the care of patients with one or more long term conditions (LTCs). You will be provided with the opportunity to enhance your knowledge in a LTC of your choice and to create a five year plan for ongoing development to further advance your role in the care of patients with LTCs.
This population focused single module is designed for senior primary care nurses. Completion of this module will enable you to collate and analyse epidemiological and local data in order to articulate and contextualise the health needs of a specific populations within your locality. It will develop your ability to holistically assess health and care needs of defined populations, including the impact of inequality in society. Focusing on one population selected in conjunction with healthcare professional colleagues you will demonstrate increased professional independence, autonomy and leadership, and develop transferable skills to further develop your role.
This single module explicitly addresses students’ personal and professional development to enhance confidence in the review, evaluation and quality assurance of services within the general practice and the wider primary care setting. Completion of this module will enable you to reflect critically upon your individual learning needs in order for you to be able to appraise and apply the quality and effectiveness of policy, strategy and service delivery in the general practice setting.
Year 2 - PG Dip
This module explicitly addresses students’ personal and/or professional development with a view to enhancing competence for service improvement in a rapidly changing health and healthcare environment. Through a flexible provision, students are inspired to reflect critically upon their individual learning needs as well as their organisations’ practices, to appraise and apply concepts from the literature on leadership, to issues of relevance for their role, organisation and overall programme of study.
This module specifically addresses the broader programme aims related to “pursuing excellence” and “practice-led, knowledge applied” through a flexible provision that encourages students to develop their research ideas, enabling those on various Health MSc programmes to satisfy their individual learning needs, whilst contributing to their area of study.
Year 3 - MSc
This double or triple module forms the final bridge between the award of a Postgraduate Diploma and a Health MSc related to a named award. It provides the student with the opportunity to complete a piece of work around a chosen topic in order to demonstrate competence in the planning, execution, analysis and evaluation of a Research Project, a Systematic Review or Project Management. It involves 600 hours of study. The focus is on facilitating the student's independent, critical study in their academic discipline or area of professional practice. It will also serve those who wish to embark on Doctoral studies in the future.
Download course specification
Download nowCourse Structure
You can choose to study this programme as a complete pathway award (full or part-time) or as a standalone module, dependent on your individual need and the needs of your organisation. All programmes offer a convenient part-time format to fit around home and work commitments
Pathway awards in General Practice Nursing can lead to:
- Module only Professional Practice (General Practice Nursing) Level 7
- PG Cert Professional Practice (General Practice Nursing)
- PG Dip Professional Practice (General Practice Nursing)
- MSc Professional Practice (General Practice Nursing)
How you will be taught
The pathway will be taught half a day a week across the academic year. A range of online synchronous and asynchronous teaching and learning activities will be facilitated by academic and clinical colleagues with extensive experience in primary care.
Online seminars, group activities, formative presentations, moodle and self-directed work will be adopted to facilitate your learning. Personal tutor support will be provided by a member of the module teams.
Additionally, academic support can be accessed from our Academic Development Department and Centre for Academic Success on a self-referral basis, and from our experienced library colleagues.
Employability
Graduates of the course will be able to contribute to the growing responsibilities of primary care services and will develop skills in:
- Technology-enhanced learning
- Generalist skills and the ability to respond to local population needs
- Leadership to open opportunities to take up leadership roles within primary care multi-disciplinary teams
- Research capabilities to open up opportunities to develop clinical academic careers
Facilities & Staff
Our staff
Sue Shortland
Associate Professor – Primary Care
Sue qualified as a registered nurse in 1984 and a registered midwife in 1986. Sue worked for over 20 years in general practice as a general practice nurse and then as an advanced nurse practitioner and non-medical prescriber. Sue joined Birmingham City University in 2008 as a Senior Lecturer on the MSc Advanced Practice Course whilst also...
More about SueDr Chris Inman
Senior Lecturer
Chris is a registered nurse with about 15 years' post-qualifying experience prior to employment in education at the University of Hull and then as Head of Nursing Development at the Open University in Milton Keynes. At Birmingham City University she has many years of experience directing the MSc Advanced Practice/MSc Health Care programmes...
More about Chris