Adult Nursing Postgraduate Taught - 2025 Entry

This course is likely to have a March 2025 intake. This will be confirmed soon.

This course is approved by the NMC. An MSc Mental Health Nursing is also available.

The MSc Adult Nursing leads to eligibility for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council and offers graduates a funded route over two-years into nursing whilst simultaneously obtaining a postgraduate qualification. This post graduate qualification is aimed at graduates who wish to develop and apply their knowledge gained during their undergraduate degree and pursue a career in the front-line delivery of health care services. The aim of this course is to prepare a registered nurse who is able to offer an excellent quality of compassionate care, enhanced leadership, management and holds inter-professional and research skills, in order to influence practice and initiate change.

Our exceptional teaching provision is based upon the latest research into practice (which is a key focus of the schools highly ranked research activity) and is grounded in modern clinical practice. The MSc Adult Nursing will equip graduates particularly well to thrive in rapidly changing environments, considering how behaviour, culture, socioeconomic and other factors, in the care environment and its location, can affect health, illness, health outcomes and public health priorities.

MSc students will graduate from the programme with the eligibility to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council as an adult nurse, with the necessary knowledge, skills, competence and values required to meet required Statutory requirements for registration with the NMC.

Tuition Fees Covered

If you are considered a home UK student for tuition fees who can commit to working in Wales for two years after graduating, you could get your tuition fees covered in full through the NHS Wales Bursary Scheme and claim for a £1,000 bursary contribution towards living costs. You can also apply for the means tested bursary that is dependent on household income and other funding that has eligibility criteria for child care support, dependents allowance and parental learner allowance. If you would prefer not to work in Wales following your graduation you can apply for the master’s student loan funding for your fees and a reduced maintenance grant.

As this course is funded by NHS Wales, we are unable to accept applications from overseas students. Full details are available on our NHS funding page.

What will you study on this course?

You’ll gain the necessary knowledge, skills and behaviour required to meet statutory requirements to register as a practicing adult nurse with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. When you graduate, you’ll have a thorough understanding of the competencies, principles and processes that underpin safe and effective person-centred care delivery and the ability to apply knowledge and principles to various care settings.

This course will develop you as an autonomous, reflective practitioner who has the qualities and values needed to deliver safe and effective care. You will develop leadership and management skills which can be further developed on qualification, enabling the practitioner to develop practice, promote and sustain change, delegate, supervise and manage self and others, whilst contributing to the planning, designing, delivering and improvement of future services.

Throughout the programme, practice placements are designed to provide a range of adult nursing experience. You’ll have compulsory theoretical study and clinical placements in acute and community hospitals in North Wales. During placements you are supernumerary and this allows you to work alongside your mentor and participate in delivery of nursing care. Support is available from a personal tutor who is a registered nurse and an academic member of staff and mentorship supervision from a practicing registered nurse on placement. Theoretical and practical work is assessed through assignments, examinations, presentations and the All-Wales Assessment of Clinical Practice portfolio.

Course Structure

Year 1

• Principles of Adult Nursing
• Legal & Ethical Concepts
• Adults with Chronic Conditions
• Physiology & Pathophysiology
• Nursing Practice 1

Year 2

• Adults with Complex Needs
• Lead, Innovate and Implement
• Evidence for Practice Dissertation Module
• Nursing Practice 2

Teaching, Learning and Assessment

The teaching and learning strategy for the course will take a student-centred approach and build on the graduate skills developed during your first degree. Whilst there will be some taught lectures for each module, the main emphasis will be on working as a group to develop your knowledge, clinical decision making skills and finding solutions to real life problems.

The course is 50% theory and 50% practice placement learning, consisting of 22 weeks of theory teaching and 22 weeks of practice placement learning. It is delivered through a blend of in-person theory teaching and online tutorials and seminars. You will attend facilitated sessions to develop the clinical skills required to meet the NMC Future Nurse Standards 2018 and to prepare for your practice learning.

Your practice learning will take place in various clinical settings across North West Wales, including both primary and secondary care, offering a range of acute and community placement opportunities. You will be supported by a practice supervisor and a practice assessor in clinical practice, as well as an academic assessor, to ensure you are progressing and achieving the proficiencies required for NMC registration.

 

Please note this course is not available for International Students.

Applicants are normally expected to have achieved at least a 2.2 honours degree in a relevant subject within the last five years (namely a health / life or social science related subject) and be able to demonstrate that they have undertaken 700 hours of healthcare related experience which can be mapped to the NMC progression point one core competencies.

GCSE requirements: In addition to the attainment of a suitable degree, the NMC requires that all applicants must demonstrate evidence of communication and numeracy, and these must be demonstrated via GCSE grade C/4 or above in Mathematics and English or Welsh first-language or a recognised alternative.

‘Good Health and Good Character’: The NMC also require that evidence of ‘Good Health and Good Character’ be obtained, and in addition to the supportive reference to the application, the School has adopted the All Wales Good Character reference. Good Character is further assessed by way of a Full/Enhanced DBS report, and these are risk assessed by the partnership in accordance with the School’s policy. Good Health is assessed by the local Health Board’s Health at Work Unit, and students are monitored throughout the programme and supported where required.

Selection processes

• Submission of application. Only applications submitted through our Direct Application portal will be considered
• Short listing against agreed criteria (including: personal statement, references and numeracy and literacy requirements)
• Candidates who are successfully shortlisted will be invited to interview
• Enhanced DBS disclosure check.
• Occupational health review.
• If successful at interview, applicants will be invited to progress to part two of the selection process and will be invited to complete and submit their RPL/REPL portfolio.

Selection events and processes will involve lecturers in adult nursing, Health Board clinical staff, service user participants. Participants in the selection processes undergo training and support in diversity and equality as part of their professional development.

Evidence of achievement / Reflective Portfolio

Applicants who successfully progress to part two of the selection process will be required to complete an RP(E)L reflective portfolio that demonstrates achievement of the Year 1 progression points outlined in the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Standards for Pre-registration Nursing Education (NMC, 2018). As part of this portfolio, applicants must submit their BSc/BA certificate and a transcript of the modules completed during their degree.

This reflective portfolio must include specific examples and evidence showing how the applicant's healthcare experience demonstrates attainment of the required progression points. Evidence may include examples from practice experiences, study days attended, mandatory training, and references provided by employers. Applicants will also be required to complete a Declaration of Own Work, confirming they have exclusively completed the PRL/RPEL portfolio.

The assessment criteria for the portfolio are as follows:

• Authenticity: Is there clear evidence supporting full achievement of the Year 1 NMC progression criteria?
• Legitimacy: Is the achievement sufficient to meet the Year 1 NMC progression points?
• Time Frame: Are the claims based on experiences relevant to the current healthcare setting, i.e., within the last 3 years?
• Sufficiency: Is the evidence sufficient to fully demonstrate attainment of the claimed learning and experiences?
• Graduate Skills: Has the applicant demonstrated the expected level of study skills for entry at Level 7?

The portfolio will be reviewed by an academic staff member and assessed as pass or fail.

Further Important Information

• Dyslexia / Disability: Applicants with particular needs in relation to dyslexia or a disability are encouraged to declare this on the front cover of their RPL/REPL portfolio so that this can be considered when reviewing the evidence.
• There are a set number of funded places on this programme are (funding criteria and further information is available on the WEDS website).
• Students who accept a funded place for this course will be required to work within Wales for two years following graduation from the programme.
• Students with disabilities, on application, are supported by the University’s Disabilities Officer and the School’s Disabilities Advisor, and relevant risk assessments undertaken and adaptations where required, explored.
• Where there may be issues relating to Good Character, Good Health, or Disability that require further exploration or investigation, the School and the local Health Board’s Fitness for Practice Committee would be consulted.
• As this programme is funded by the Workforce, Education and Development Service (WEDS) international students will not be eligible to apply for this programme of study.

Students successfully completing the MSc Adult Nursing are able to register their professional status with the Nursing and Midwifery Council and seek employment as a registered nurse through the HEIW streamlining process.

Employability rates are high in comparison to other graduates, given the professional competence and qualification in association with a degree. Career opportunities once employed as registered nurse are excellent and can lead to promotion opportunities in clinical practice/specialism, research or education.

Careers Advice

Careers advice is gained from healthcare professionals both in practice and in dedicated careers sessions and NHS Careers has more details of the career opportunities that are available.