Nursing - Adult and Learning Disabilities - Dual Award - MSci
Currently viewing course to start in 2024/25 Entry.
Our four-year undergraduate Nursing – Dual Award course gives you practice experience in two different fields of nursing as well as developing your leadership skills in a research-informed way, ultimately providing the opportunity to register as a nurse in two fields. This MSci – an integrated master’s – is run alongside, and integrates, with our BSc (Hons) Nursing programme....
- Level Undergraduate
- Study mode Full Time
- Location City South
- Award MSci
- Start date September 2024
- Fees View course fees
- School School of Nursing and Midwifery
- Faculty Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences
This course is:
Overview
Our four-year undergraduate Nursing – Dual Award course gives you practice experience in two different fields of nursing as well as developing your leadership skills in a research-informed way, ultimately providing the opportunity to register as a nurse in two fields.
This MSci – an integrated master’s – is run alongside, and integrates, with our BSc (Hons) Nursing programme. You will learn together with students from different fields of nursing (Adult, Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Child) and have tailored support to help you achieve the Level 7 elements of the course in year four.
As a dual award course, you will spend time on placement in different hospital and clinical settings across the West Midlands area to help you qualify in your chosen fields of nursing.
The course is accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and you will be able to apply for Registered Nurse status in two fields of nursing on successful completion of the course.
The reference to ‘dual award’ indicates the professional NMC dual registration you will be eligible for on successful completion.
What's covered in this course?
In the first two years you will study with BSc (Hons) Nursing students on modules with integrated theoretical content, learning about all fields of nursing - Adult, Child, Mental Health and Learning Disabilities. The early part of the course aimed at developing your confidence and competence in working with and caring for people of all ages across the lifespan, with a range of health needs.
During the third and fourth year, the course focuses on your dual award. You will take adult and learning disability nursing specific modules aligned to practice placements, which will help to build on your previous learning and develop proficiency in your chosen fields of practice. These modules will help develop you as a leader and critical thinker to apply research-informed, evidence-based care, to plan, evaluate and coordinate care, supervise other health professionals and gain confidence in the safe management of medication.
You will also benefit from having personalised, field specific academic and clinical support and bespoke action learning sets to accelerate research-informed evidence-based decision-making.
Your placement learning experiences may be within community, hospital or home environment settings and at a location anywhere within the West Midlands and potentially into neighbouring counties, particularly for the Learning Disability field placements. While on placement, you will be supported, supervised and assessed by practice and academic staff to develop your knowledge and skills.
We are committed to providing excellent, innovative, learning, teaching and assessment experiences through the use of technology, which we use to enhance your learning, through lectures, seminars, skills simulation and virtual learning. Engaging with practice partners and service users is also integral to our approach.
Our MSci Nursing dual award course has been designed to comply with the new Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) standards (2018) meaning that successful completion of this course makes you eligible to apply and be entered onto the NMC register in two of the four fields of nursing, Adult and Learning Disabilities.
Accredited By
This course is accredited by:
Why Choose Us?
- Funding - Nursing students who are eligible for a student loan will receive at least £5,000 a year in additional funding for maintenance and associated study costs. Download the funding FAQs.
- You will study at our City South Campus where we’ve recently invested nearly £5 million to update our skills and simulations facilities, complete with real-life hospital environments (wards, operating theatre), basic and advanced life support training facilities and simulation equipment to practice your practical skills.
- 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.
- Opportunities to Go Abroad if this is something you would like to explore during your time studying with us.
- Student finance - have you already had a student loan to study an undergraduate degree but would like to do a second degree in nursing? You may still be eligible for funding.
Similar Courses
Open Days
Join us for an on-campus Open Day where you'll be able to meet us in person. Booking for the next event isn’t open yet. Register your interest below and we’ll email you as soon as booking goes live.
Next Open Day: 23 March 2024
Entry Requirements
These entry requirements apply for entry in 2024/25.
All required qualifications/grades must have been achieved and evidenced at the earliest opportunity after accepting an offer to help confirm admission and allow for on-time enrolment. This can also include other requirements, like a fee status form and relevant documents. Applicants can track their application and outstanding information requests through their BCU mySRS account.
We accept a range of qualifications, the most popular of which are detailed below.
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120 UCAS tariff points from A/AS Level Please note: If you qualify for our BCU Accelerate scheme, you could receive an offer that is two grades below our normal entry requirements. Find out more about BCU Accelerate. Applicants are required to undertake a face-to-face engagement, normally in the format of an interview Interviews are currently taking place via Microsoft Teams. Find out more about online interviews. Places are subject to a satisfactory Occupational Health Check, Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check and registration with the Independent Safeguarding Authority. Qualifications, personal statement, and references all form part of the selection criteria for this course. Applicants must demonstrate evidence of literacy, numeracy, and IT skills in line with the Nursing and Midwifery Council requirements. Applicants must normally have evidence of formal study within the last five years. However, we are sometimes able to waive this requirement if a candidate has a significant amount of professional experience in a relevant field, for example healthcare, social care, or education. You must provide evidence of having been in general education for a minimum of ten years. |
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GCSE |
GCSE English Language or Literature, GCSE Maths and GCSE Science at grade C/4 or above. If you do not have these or are not undertaking them, we accept other Level 2 equivalents, or we may ask you to pass BCU's GCSE equivalency tests. |
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Irish Leaving Certificate (Ordinary Level) |
See level 3 entry requirements under Irish Leaving Certificate for full details. |
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Scottish National 5 |
English Language or Literature, Maths and Science at grade C or above. If you do not have these or are not undertaking them, we accept other Level 2 equivalents, or we may ask you to pass BCU's GCSE equivalency tests. |
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A level and Advanced VCE |
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Access to HE Diploma |
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British bachelor's degree |
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NCFE CACHE Level 3 Extended Diploma for Children’s Care, Learning and Development (Wales and Northern Ireland) |
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NCFE CACHE Level 3 Extended Diploma for the Children and Young People’s Workforce |
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City and Guilds Level 3 Advanced Technical Extended Diploma (1080) |
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International Baccalaureate Diploma |
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Irish Leaving Certificate (Highers) |
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OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma |
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OCR Cambridge Technical Diploma |
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Open University courses |
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Scottish Higher/Advanced Higher |
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T-Levels |
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Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate - Skills Challenge Certificate (first teaching September 2015) |
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Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Diploma – Core (awarded until 2016) ESW/KS Combined component |
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If you have a qualification that is not listed in the table please refer to our full entry requirements on UCAS. Further guidance on tariff points can be found on the UCAS website. |
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IELTS |
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I really want to become a nurse but do not meet your entry requirements. What advice can you give me?
- All applicants must meet our academic entry requirements in order to be considered for the course.
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If you do not have sufficient Level 3 qualifications, you could consider taking an Access to Higher Education Diploma qualification in a relevant subject such as Nursing, Midwifery or Health. You can search for Access course providers via https://www.accesstohe.ac.uk/course-search. Maths and English language GCSE qualifications need to have been achieved at grade C/4 or above. In terms of acceptable equivalents to GCSEs, if you are taking an Access course we can consider Functional Skills level 2 in maths and English.
If you are applying to enter year 2 or year 3 of this course, we require a reference from your previous institution before enrolment.
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: MSci
Starting: Sep 2024
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Full Time
- 4 years
- £9,250 in 2024/25
- Apply via UCAS
International students
Sorry, this course is not available to International students.
Guidance for UK students
UK students applying for most undergraduate degree courses in the UK will need to apply through UCAS.
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) is a UK organisation responsible for managing applications to university and college.
Applying through UCAS
Register with UCAS
Login to UCAS
Complete your details
Select your course
Write a personal statement
Get a reference
Pay your application fee
Send UCAS your application
Our advice for applying to a health care course
Applying for a course and preparing for an interview can be a daunting process, so we have created a series of films to help you through the process, including what to put in your personal statement.
Personal statement
Your personal statement is a highly important part of your application. It gives you a crucial opportunity to say why you’re applying and why the institution should accept you.
Here are the key areas you’ll need to address:
Course choice
Why does this course appeal? What areas are of particular interest?
Career plans
If you have a specific career in mind, say how your chosen course will help you pursue this goal.
Work experience
Mention any work that is relevant to your subject, highlighting the skills and experience gained.
School or college experience
Highlight skills gained at school/college, eg summer schools or mentoring activities.
Non-accredited skills or achievement
eg Duke of Edinburgh Award, Young Enterprise scheme.
You should also mention your future plans – if you’re planning to take a year out, don't forget to give your reasons. Talk about any subjects you’re studying that don’t have a formal assessment and any sponsorships or placements you’ve applied for. And don't be scared to add in details about your social, sports or leisure interests.
Get more information on writing personal statements.
Course in Depth
Year One
In order to fully complete this course and be eligible for application for entry onto the NMC register, a student must successfully achieve all 480 credits.
The NMC standards aim to ensure that nurses are able to work in ways that are not only fit for today, but also for the future. Nurses are being asked to undertake more complex roles than ever before in an evolving health and care landscape requiring a depth and breadth of a range of topics (Smith, 2017). This module aims to provide an introduction to fundamental nursing knowledge and skills, as well as develop a pride in the profession and the role of the nurse.
This module will focus specifically on the final stages of the nursing process which includes a systematic and collaborative approach to providing and evaluating care for people and families across the lifespan. You will learn how to support individuals and if appropriate their families and carers, to make informed choices through effective communication, relationship management skills and shared decision making. You will develop an evidence based approach to working in partnership with people, families and carers to continuously monitor, evaluate and reassess the effectiveness of all agreed nursing care plans and readjust agreed goals as necessary.
The aim of this module is to help you start to enhance your skills in leadership, management and team-working, in addition to the development of your ability to promote health and assist people to modify their lifestyles to enhance healthier lives. Nurses are leaders who are participative, facilitative and emotionally intelligent. Effective leadership styles contribute to team cohesion, lower stress, and higher empowerment and self-efficacy. Leadership is a predictor of quality outcomes in health care settings. Authentic leaders offer good role modelling consistent with ethical values and vision for health care. They offer individualised consideration of staff, provide motivation and stimulate creativity and innovation (RCN 2017).
Good nursing care is based on the identification of the needs of the person and should be appropriate to the nursing context in which the assessment takes place (DH, 2014). This module will focus specifically on the first two steps of the cyclical nursing process, a model that helps to deliver appropriate and effective care and resolve peoples’ needs by setting goals. Undertaking a comprehensive assessment is the first stage of the nursing process and one in which the nurse is required to ensure the person and, if appropriate, their family and carers are fully involved. A thorough assessment enables the second stage of the nursing process; that of planning care. It is at this stage that person-centred, holistic care can then be identified prior to the third and fourth stages of the process, which are known as providing and evaluating care.
The module provides you with an introduction to and ongoing support for practice elements of your programme. The module is designed to enable you to achieve practice proficiencies within your chosen field of practice through ongoing guided participation in care within the practice setting. The module offers preparation, development and consolidation to grow your confidence and acquire competence within the practice learning environment.
You will be able to practice and develop your nursing skills within a safe, supportive environment, participate in teaching and learning sessions that support begin to allow you to identify and reflect on your own learning needs and experiences in practice.
Year Two
This module aims to provide you with the knowledge and strategies to develop problem solving and decision making skills. These skills will enable you to undertake the assessment and planning of complex situations and health conditions across the life span in a variety of nursing settings.
This module builds on previous learning to further advance your knowledge and skills to provide holistic care across a variety of care settings. You will explore theory in order to lead, deliver and evaluate complex care for a range of service users across the lifespan. Expanding on the modules in level four and complex care 1, you will continue to develop nursing care which is person centred, encompasses empowerment, uses effective communication and employs evidence based interventions.
In this module, you will get the opportunity to focus on issues of quality and safety in health care, incorporating a public health perspective in both a national and global context. Building on level four modules you will further your understanding of health policy, exploring what influences public health and causes health inequalities. Well-being as a concept will be further explored particularly in relation to sexual health, as will the service users/patient’s capacity to manage their own health and the role of the nurse in assisting patients/service users to make behaviour changes. This will also build on the work done in previous modules on empowerment and person and family centred care.
The NMC (2018) and HEE stress nursing leadership is a core nursing role in the delivery of modern health services. You will build on the skills developed at level four to further consider nursing leadership, legal aspects of nursing and management strategies required in contemporary health and social care settings.
The module provides you with the opportunity for further development and ongoing support for practice elements of your programme. The module is designed to enable you to achieve within your chosen field of practice through ongoing guided participation in care within the practice setting. The module offers year 2 preparation, development and consolidation to support confidence and competence within the practice learning environment.
Year Three
This module aims to equip you to identify the holistic needs of the person with a learning disability and produce an evidence-based, co-ordinated, person-centred package of care that takes into consideration all current and future care needs of an individual with learning disabilities.
This module aims to equip you with a secure understanding of physiology and systems of the body, focusing on specific health needs of people with learning disabilities, which will enable the assessment and provision of evidence based care and interventions. It also aims to develop your ability to critically appraise the use of medication amongst people with learning disabilities and ensure that legal, ethical and professional issues are considered.
This module aims to help you examine your identity as a leader, leadership theory, policy and research to guide the management of care as a learning disabilities nurse. Caring for people with a learning disability in the health and social care setting has recently been met with an unprecedented pace of change and increasing levels of complexity and demand for services. Therefore provision of effective leadership in learning disabilities nursing is more important than ever before. As a result of these changes and to meet service demand, a number of new roles have been developed and introduced to the nursing workforce.
This module aims to consolidate your risk assessment, decision making and appraisal skills to ensure safety and quality of care for people with learning disabilities across a range of areas. This is especially important for the learning disabilities nurse, because your role is central to ensuring equality of access to health care services for people with learning disabilities. The module supports you in becoming equipped with the skills and knowledge to work in partnership with a range of professionals, interdisciplinary teams and most importantly the service user, carer and family.
The module provides you with further development and ongoing support for practice elements of your programme. The module is designed to enable you to achieve within your chosen field of practice. This will be through ongoing supervision and by practising independently with minimal supervision within the practice setting. The module offers year 3 preparation, development and consolidation to support confidence and competence within the practice learning environment.
Year Four
This module aims to help you explore the wider determinants of health and illness for those adults living with complex needs. Building on earlier learning in the complex care modules, you will develop evidence-informed decisions in how to co-ordinate care in an interdisciplinary context, in doing so improving the safety and quality of nursing care for adults.
This module aims to prepare you with the essential theoretical and practical elements to be able to prepare and administer medicines safely to adults. You will develop a systematic process for safe medicines management, and pharmacology. A particular emphasis will be placed on disease processes which affect the adult population relating to the current pharmacological strategies to treat ill health. Furthermore, you will utilise best practice guidelines to evidence and rationalise care decisions relating to pharmacology and medication concordance. This will include evidence based practice approaches to communication for supporting people in preventing ill health and managing their care.
This module aims to help you examine your identity as a leader in adult nursing practice using leadership theory, policy and research to guide management of care. Caring for adults in the health and social care setting has recently been met with an unprecedented pace of change and increasing in levels of complexity and demand for services, therefore provision of effective leadership in adult nursing is more important than ever before. As a result of these changes and to meet service demand, a number of new roles have been developed and introduced to the nursing workforce.
This module aims to consolidate your risk assessment, decision making and appraisal skills to ensure safety and quality of nursing practice across a variety of settings. With increasing scrutiny and demands on healthcare services, it is vital that you are able to evaluate and enhance adult nursing care. The module supports you in becoming equipped with the skills and knowledge to work in partnership with a range of professionals, interdisciplinary teams and most importantly the service user, their carer and family.
The module provides you with further development and ongoing support for practice elements of your programme. The module is designed to enable you to achieve within your chosen field of practice. This will be through ongoing supervision and by practising independently with minimal supervision within the practice setting. The module offers year 3 preparation, development and consolidation to support confidence and competence within the practice learning environment.
Download course specification
Download nowCourse Structure
Year One
As an undergraduate, the first year prepares you for further study and facilitates your understanding of the principles which underpin nursing. This is supported by numerous placement learning experiences over the year.
Your University Modules are taught and assessed alongside your BSc (Hons) Nursing colleagues. Your Practice Placements are organised around a practice hub (e.g. hospital ward/unit/community hub) and allied experience, for example, Adult hub and Learning Disabilities allied experiences. For your practice assessment you will be assessed in one Field only.
Year Two
During this year university modules will continue to have a generic focus and help develop core nursing skills and knowledge in: leadership, assessment and evaluation of care. Clinical placements will be more targeted to your dual award, with placements in both fields of practice. At the end of the second year, clinical practice assessment will be in the same field as year one.
Again for this year, your University Modules are taught and assessed alongside BSc (Hons) Nursing colleagues. Your placements are organised as: Placement 1 Field A, Placement 2 Field B and Placement 3 Field A. For your practice assessment you will again be assessed in one Field only.
Years Three and Four
As you continue on the MSci dual award programme, placements in your third and fourth year alternate between your chosen fields of nursing. In these years, University modules follow the flow of placements. In the fourth year your University modules you will be assessed at Master's level.
Your Year Three University Modules are taught and assessed alongside BSc (Hons) Nursing colleagues in specific Field modules, which align to your field placements. Your placements are organised as: Placement 1 Field B, Placement 2 Field A and Placement 3 Field A. For your practice assessment you will again be assessed in one Field only.
Your Year Four University Modules are taught and assessed alongside BSc (Hons) Nursing colleagues in specific Field modules, which align to your field placements. Your placements will alternate between your two fields: Placement 1 Field A, Placement 2 Field A and Placement 3 Field A and B. In this year your practice assessment will be in both Fields.
You'll experience a mixture of teaching, self-directed study and practice-based clinical placements, spending half of your time each year on placement.
Upon successful completion you'll graduate with a MSci Nursing – dual award worth 480 credits and be eligible to apply for Registered Nurse status with the Nursing and Midwifery Council in both the Adult and Learning Disability fields of practice.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) works with partner organisations to set and maintain high standards of nursing and midwifery education across the UK.
This course has been approved and monitored by the NMC to make sure that the education and training on offer meets their standards.
To work as a nurse or midwife, you must pass an NMC approved course at a higher education institution (HEI) in pre-registration nursing and midwifery, leading to registration with the NMC.
Athena Swan Bronze Award
We have successfully secured the Athena SWAN Departmental Bronze Award recognising a commitment to gender equality.
The Athena Swan Charter is a framework which is used across the globe to support and transform gender equality within higher education (HE) and research.
Employability
Employability
We have collaborated with clinical practice colleagues, service users and carers in the West Midlands region to design our dual awards to meet the changing health care needs and services of the region, and beyond, nationally. This is a highly relevant, exciting, varied and timely course, positioning you at the centre of the changing scope of patient care and services care in the 21st century.
Holding a dual award offers more employment options. Choosing either to specialise in one field of practice or work towards specialising in clinical roles where being qualified in two fields of practice is required for specialist roles in emergency care, primary care and clinical liaison roles in large hospitals.
Once qualified and registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council you can practice in the UK and many countries overseas. As a qualified nurse you could find yourself working within the NHS, the private sector, in the community, at GP surgeries, at schools, plus many more - the options are endless.
Facilities & Staff
Our Facilities
Our School of Nursing and Midwifery is based at our City South campus in leafy Edgbaston.
We’ve spent £41million expanding our facilities at City South. These facilities offer hands-on practical experience, replicating the spaces you will come across in professional practice.
In a sector where new techniques are constantly being discovered, we work hard to ensure that you learn using the most up-to-date equipment available. Alongside physical spaces such as a mock operating theatre and wards, we also make use of online and virtual technology, such as our virtual ward and virtual case creator.
See more of our skills facilities at City South
Centre for Skills and Simulation
The Centre for Skills and Simulation offers a range of different spaces which replicate situations that you will encounter in practice. These include hospital wards, an operating theatre and a home environment room.
Our mock wards enable you to get a feel of what a ward is really like before you head out for your first placement. The hospital wards can be adapted from low care to high dependency care environment with the necessary monitoring equipment.
The home environment room is the perfect space for teaching communications skills and allows us to simulate a community setting for our students. It is particularly useful for mental health nurses, learning disability nurses and midwives.
Simulation Manikins
We have several Simulation men (SIM men) and simulation babies (SIM babies) which are anatomically correct manikins used for teaching specific techniques such as advanced adult and paediatric life support skills, acute and high dependency clinical skills, first aid and communication skills. The manikins contain software which replicates real symptoms, and can manipulate indicators such as blood pressure, pulse and heart rate for extra realism. SIM man can even ‘talk’ to the students as they are treating him, to add another dimension to learning.
Computer Facilities
The Seacole building has two open-access IT Suites which offer PCs, printers, photocopiers and scanners. There is also an IT Helpdesk for quick and easy help with your computing or internet issues.
Our PCs utilise the latest Intel i5 core technology, all with:
- Fast (unrestricted) internet connectivity
- Ability to save files to USB, DVD & CD
- Microsoft Office software
- Research and statistical software
- Storage space which can be accessed from any PC across the University and from home
Our PCs are also designed to support students who may have difficulties with reading and writing, featuring specialised software with zooming/magnification and screen reading capabilities, which may also be customised for individual student needs.
In addition to desktop PCs, we also offer a laptop loan facility, allowing students to borrow a laptop for up to six hours while on campus.
Our staff
Jody Perry
Course Lead for BSc Nursing and FdSc Assistant Practitioner (Health) and Senior Lecturer
Jody initially joined the University as a Health and Safety Advisor has a back ground in Risk Management/Clinical Governance as well as Learning and Development. Before joining the University, Jody worked in the NHS for almost twenty years. In 2014, Jody moved into academia as Senior Lecturer to undertake the role of Undergraduate Lead for...
More about JodyHelen Davis-Miles
Course Lead for MSci Nursing and Senior Lecturer
Helen is part of the Future Nurse Programme team as MSci Nursing course which runs alongside the BSc Nursing and Registered Nurse Degree Apprentice courses. Helen qualified as a nurse from the University of Birmingham in 2011 with a 1:1 and began her career at Great Ormond Street Hospital in the Haematology/Oncology unit.
More about Helen