Nursing is a challenging but rewarding career that'll change lives, including your own. As a mental health nurse you'll play your part in improving access to healthcare, wellbeing, social inclusion and quality of life.
Working in a variety of settings, including specialist and community services, and people's homes, mental health nurses provide focused health support to people of all ages.
£5,000 per year training grant is available for students along with an additional £1,000 per year grant because mental health nurses are in demand in the UK and worldwide. Further information is available on the NHS Business Services website.
Why UCS?
You'll learn from a passionate, enthusiastic, skilled and supportive team with a range of experience across all the many different aspects of mental health nursing, and other fields of nursing. As many of our staff are active researchers, your learning will be enriched by the very latest in best practice and clinical understanding.
This course has a strong practical focus, allowing you to gain competence carrying out the hands-on tasks you will perform in your career. About half your time will be spent on placements with our established partners. You will also have regular access to outstanding facilities including our Clinical Simulation Suite: an imitation ward where you will be able to develop your clinical expertise in a safe, instructive environment.
Based at our Taunton Campus, you will interact with and learn from other students from a range of health and social care courses. You will develop essential people skills as you work with patients and their families, as well as our partners on placements, in class and online.
Course Overview
Year one you will study:
Year two you will study:
Final year you will study:
Plus, one optional module from a range of specialisms to be discussed at interview.
Nursing is a challenging but rewarding career that'll change lives, including your own. As a mental health nurse you'll play your part in improving access to healthcare, wellbeing, social inclusion and quality of life.
Working in a variety of settings, including specialist and community services, and people's homes, mental health nurses provide focused health support to people of all ages.
£5,000 per year training grant is available for students along with an additional £1,000 per year grant because mental health nurses are in demand in the UK and worldwide. Further information is available on the NHS Business Services website.
Why UCS?
You'll learn from a passionate, enthusiastic, skilled and supportive team with a range of experience across all the many different aspects of mental health nursing, and other fields of nursing. As many of our staff are active researchers, your learning will be enriched by the very latest in best practice and clinical understanding.
This course has a strong practical focus, allowing you to gain competence carrying out the hands-on tasks you will perform in your career. About half your time will be spent on placements with our established partners. You will also have regular access to outstanding facilities including our Clinical Simulation Suite: an imitation ward where you will be able to develop your clinical expertise in a safe, instructive environment.
Based at our Taunton Campus, you will interact with and learn from other students from a range of health and social care courses. You will develop essential people skills as you work with patients and their families, as well as our partners on placements, in class and online.
Course Overview
Year one you will study:
Year two you will study:
Final year you will study:
Plus, one optional module from a range of specialisms to be discussed at interview.
Our philosophy of nurse education encompasses flexible, progressive, and innovative approaches ensuring you will be a caring, competent, and critically thinking nurse. Some of our approaches include experiential learning, enquiry and action-based learning, group work and face-to-face learning.
You will learn about the importance of your relationship as a nurse with both the service user and their family and friends. We will support you to develop the interpersonal skills you'll need to build therapeutic relationships with people in diverse cultural contexts.
Develop your expertise in healthcare systems, nursing management, and the sociology of health, wellness, and illness. Explore the latest research and evidence-based practice and learn to adapt and respond to changes in society and developments in care.
With a strong focus on building independent learning and research skills, the course also provides an excellent preparation for future professional development. With the help of distance learning and self-directed materials you will be supported to take responsibility for your own learning.
Assessment methods may include, but are not limited to:
Study time
The course includes attendance in classes and online directed learning. During the timetabled blocks of the course, you will study full time between 9:00 to 17:00, Monday to Friday, except bank holidays.
While you are on placement, you will be working full time (37.5 hours), participating in shifts over a 24-hour period, including nights and weekends. Your placements may take you anywhere across your chosen Primary Placement Area.
Placements
With two practice placements a year, you'll spend half the course applying your knowledge and building your professional skills working with people, their families and healthcare professionals in a range of settings.
University Centre Somerset has excellent links with our local employers, and placements are normally split between NHS roles and positions in private or voluntary sector organisations both in hospital and community settings.
You'll get a broad range of practice experiences, putting you in a strong position for future employment in either a community or hospital setting. In each placement setting you'll receive support and guidance from supervisors and assessors. An example of what this may look like can be seen below:
Year one (19 weeks)
Year two (19 weeks)
Final year (22 weeks)
Registered nurses are in demand across the UK and our graduates enter careers in a variety of roles for the NHS, private and voluntary sector employers in community and hospital settings.
You could go on to specialise in positions in hospitals, healthcare centres as a community nurse, in GP practices, schools, as a health visitor, or with patients in their own homes.
Once qualified you can also combine clinical practice with study on a post graduate course to specialise in a specific area. Progression could lead to senior positions such as consultant nurse, nurse specialist, researcher, or local or regional services manager.
*The university accepts a large number of UK and International Qualifications in place of IELTS. You can find details of acceptable tests and the required grades you will need in our English Language section. Visit http://uwe.ac.uk/englishlanguagerequirements
For information on required Guided Learning Hours please see
our minimum
entry requirements page.
Equivalent qualifications other than those listed above may be accepted. Contact UCS admission team for more information.
You will also need to demonstrate:
Additional Entry Requirements
All applicants will be required to complete:
As a student on a nursing course, you will be expected to engage in the full range of clinical duties whilst on placement, which constitutes half of the course. You must be mindful of the requirement in the NMC Code of Practice 2015, which states that registered nurses must maintain the level of health needed to carry out our professional role.
Offers of places are subject to occupational health clearance and students are expected to disclose pre-existing and historical health conditions. Students on professional programmes have to meet specific requirements related to the need to demonstrate certain knowledge, skills and competencies required by professional, statutory or regulatory bodies that cannot be compromised. In considering reasonable adjustments, these will be taken into account when agreeing what adjustments are possible.
*All information will be treated in confidence and only taken into account when absolutely necessary.
Health checks
You must be in good health and up-to-date with all routine immunisations that are required for working in health and social care settings. If you are offered a place on this course, you will be required to complete a questionnaire and must be prepared to undergo a medical examination. You will also be required to confirm your status in respect of a number of infectious diseases (tuberculosis, measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, varicella, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV antibodies, Covid-19) and be prepared to have all required vaccinations.Please note that the list of required vaccinations may change, in response to advice from the Department of Health. If your vaccinations are not up-to-date, this will affect your ability to continue on your course. If you have any concerns with regards to vaccinations please raise this at the point of application.
Covid vaccination
On March 1st, the government confirmed legislation would be brought forward to revoke vaccination and a condition of employment in health and social care settings. Students studying on Health, Social Care and Medical programmes that lead to registration with The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) General Medical Council (GMC) Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) or Social Work England (SWE) are still strongly encouraged to ensure that they are fully vaccinated for Covid-19 (except where there is a medical exemption) due to having to undertake placements. There is a professional responsibility to reduce risk of Covid-19 infection to patients and this will protect the patients/clients that you will be supporting as part of your programme of study. A number of NHS trusts and Social Care providers are now requiring this from all patient-facing health and care staff, therefore if you are not fully vaccinated, access to many placements may be restricted which will have an impact on you being able to complete your chosen programme of study. The university will seek to manage this through placement allocation and so you are advised to respond with your current vaccination status as soon as possible when asked, to reduce the risk to your placement.
If you were vaccinated outside of the UK and want to check if your Covid-19 vaccine is recognised in the UK please check the UK government website.
The course fee is £9250.00* per year of study.
For more information regarding course fees, please read our 'Fees and Funding' page.
*Fees are subject to review annually. The fees for existing students may be increased annually in line with the Retail Price Index.