Intro

Health and social care is a growing area. As more emphasis is placed on health promotion in our society, there is an ever-increasing demand for qualified health and social care practitioners.

This foundation degree provides a higher apprenticeship pathway and is suitable for you if you are currently working in a health or social care setting. Our assistant practitioner and nursing associate apprenticeships will develop your knowledge and skills enabling you to progress to an assistant practitioner or nursing associate role.

These apprenticeships are designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge that you need to administer high-quality, safe and compassionate care in one of the rewarding careers under the umbrella of health and social care.

The course has an applied focus, with practice-based learning making up a high proportion of the qualification. This means that you can apply and consolidate your classroom-based knowledge through your practical work.

Recognising that patients are at the heart of everything the NHS does, we have embedded the core values of the NHS Constitution — respect, dignity, compassion and collaboration — into our curriculum.

We have a dedicated team of academic staff who are actively engaged in internationalising the nursing and midwifery curriculum, and we offer all our students the chance to experience practice in another country.

Key facts

Location 91¶¶Òõ: Falmer

UCAS code Not applicable. Apply direct to the university. 

Full-time 2 years

Entry criteria

Entry requirements

All candidates must be employed in a suitable health or social care setting, have employer support and a guarantee of work-based supervision from an appropriately qualified work-based supervisor (Assistant Practitioner pathway) or Registered Nurse Mentor (Nursing Associate pathway).

Candidates must normally be employed for a minimum 30 hours per week. NB: If the apprentice works fewer than 30 hours a week the provider must extend the minimum duration of the apprenticeship (pro rata) to take account of this.

In addition, candidates need to meet the following entry criteria:

Candidates usually possess a minimum of Key Skills level 2 in English and maths together with (or part of) a relevant or equivalent level 3 qualification such as:

  • an Advanced Apprenticeship in Health and Social Care
  • BTEC National Diploma (pass) or Certificate (merit)
  • two A-levels (with maths and English GCSE grade C)
  • Open University course in Health and Social Care-related subject such as SDK125, subject-related NVQ level 3 (Includes key skills English and maths level 2) with a Skills for Health: Bridging Skills for Higher Education course.

Other qualifications that have equivalence will be considered by the course leader. Candidates with relevant and substantial work experience but without a recognised level three qualification will be considered on a case by case basis.

Invited candidates will have an interview at the university. The interview will include an entry test (level 2) for maths and English.

Course content

Course structure

You are required to attend university one day a week during term-time and the equivalent of two days a week in supported/supervised practice. 

You will spend approximately 30% of your course time at the university, 40% in practice undertaking skills and role development, and 30% undertaking independent, guided or private study.

Induction takes place during the first week, during which you’ll be able to find out more about the course and the wider university support mechanisms and university life like the Students’ Union, Fresher’s Fair, etc.

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up to date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. When you have applied to us, you’ll be told about any new developments through .

Syllabus

Our course team recognises that students come from a diverse background within NHS hospitals, community NHS and social care settings, including the private and voluntary sector, and so our course subjects cover a number of different areas. Subjects focus across the age spectrum on different service user groups and types of care, from acute to long-term.

Year 1 

The focus of the first semester is on study skills, the transition from the workplace to higher education (university) and communication skills.

You will cover writing academic essays, learning styles, time management, IT, reflective writing, effective studying techniques and numeracy skills, along with developing communications skills. In practice, you will complete a number of core skills related to practice and role development.

In the second semester you’ll develop your knowledge and understanding of key areas related to your practice – anatomy and physiology, and legal and ethical aspects. Additional skills sessions are built into the semester either within the classroom (knowledge-based) or practice skills rooms (simulated practice-based).


Modules

  • Study Skills for Health and Social Care Practice

    This module will develop your self-confidence and skills as an adult learner. The module will enable you to study in higher education by enabling you to identify your strengths and weaknesses, and providing strategies to address these across a range of key skills.

  • Communication in Health and Social Care Practice

    This module will enable you to develop effective communication in a health and social care work setting.

  • Legal and Ethical Foundations of Health and Social Care Practice

    Health and social care is an ever-changing landscape. Those who access services from health and social care providers deserve to receive a quality service. This module will develop your depth of knowledge and understanding of legal-ethical issues in health and social care. Within this module you will be introduced to legal-ethical issues and policy related to your area of practice.

  • Anatomy and Physiology to Support Health and Social Care Practice

    In this module you will explore anatomy and physiology in relation to health and well-being of clients and patients across the lifespan. The module underpins and informs practice. You will apply an understanding of anatomy and physiology to your area of practice.

  • Work-based Learning for Health and Social Care Practice

    This module will enable you to demonstrate competence in a range of practice skills. A portfolio will demonstrate the development of underpinning knowledge and reflection in work-based learning.

Year 2 

The focus of the second year is enhanced practice development towards associate and assistant practitioner roles. 

Skills on which you are assessed will be:

  • negotiated in partnership with the employer
  • closely related to your job description
  • applied to your developing role in the work environment.

You also have opportunities to develop your skills in the simulated environments that are available at the university. 

You will develop research awareness and knowledge in the first semester, and undertake a work-based project throughout the year. The projects you will achieve are challenging but often lead to promoting positive practice and changes in the workplace.

Modules

  • Project Planning

    This module will prepare you to plan a work-based project to benefit practice and enhance your role within the health and social care setting. Content will include lectures, collaborative group work, discussion, reflection, action learning sets and tutorials exploring areas such as quality improvement in healthcare, project planning tools and process, leadership theory, effective teamworking, stakeholder involvement, ethics and risk analysis.

  • Using Evidence as a Basis for Practice

    This module will provide you with an overview of evidence-based practice, highlight the key role that research plays within this process and enable you to explore how you can apply an evidence-based approach to your own practice. Areas studied include the history of evidence-based practice, the role of NICE and other regulatory bodies, principles of research, qualitative and quantitative research, and ethics and research in decision-making.

  • Work-based Project

    This module offers you the opportunity to conduct a work-based project in your workplace. Drawing on the content and experience of other modules, you will integrate and apply the knowledge and skills gained to an aspect of practice or role development within the workplace for the mutual benefit of employer and employee.

  • Integrative Health Care Practice

    The module provides an opportunity for you to explore a variety of patient scenarios using a problem-based learning approach and identify appropriate interventions in relation your role. Scenarios will include respiratory care, cardiovascular care, neurological care, diabetic care, long-term conditions, pain management, mental health, learning disabilities and end of life care.

  • Practice Skills Development

    This module provides you with the opportunity to further develop the knowledge, skills, behaviour and attitudes required to support your role as an assistant practitioner or trainee nursing associate. You will explore the dynamic nature of healthcare and use evidence-based practice to support the development of skills to enhance the quality of care. You will also continue to develop the skills required for reflective practice.

Facilities

Clinical Skills and Simulation Suite

Clinical skills and simulation rooms provide an invaluable tool for assessment and monitoring your progress throughout the course.

You will benefit from practising nursing skills in an environment that simulates nurses’ real-life professional experiences. Learning by simulation with state-of-the-art mannequins enables you to practice in a safe environment under supervision, so you can apply your knowledge and skills in professional practice with confidence.

Our skilled technicians will be on hand to support you.

nursing suite

Community flat

The community flat is a replica home environment where you’ll be able to practice skills and learn from other students while taking part in realistic training scenarios.

Every room is fitted with cameras and microphones, so that you can be directed and monitored from the control room, while the observation room provides the opportunity to review, playback and debrief.

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More about this subject at 91¶¶Òõ

Careers

Graduates gain an Assistant Practitioner or Nursing Associate Apprenticeship qualification as well as their foundation degree.

In most cases, graduates have their foundation degree award linked to assistant or associate practitioner status (for example, Band 4 NHS pay scale).

Graduates are normally in their own area of work and use the foundation degree as a stepping stone for career development within their own organisation.

Entry to our Nursing BSc(Hons)

Successful completion of this course qualifies you to apply to our nursing degrees with 120 credits at level 5, meaning that you could start in year 2.

Nurse and doctor using diagnostic equipment

Fees and costs

Course fees

This course is an approved Higher Apprenticeship. Higher apprenticeships offer an apprentice the opportunity to combine working while studying for a work-based academic or vocational higher level qualification, with course fees paid from apprenticeship funds.

To find out more you can contact your employer, visit or contact the course team for more information on becoming an apprentice.

Read more about apprenticeships at 91¶¶Òõ. 

What's included

Here you’ll find details of specific resources and services that are included in the tuition fee for our allied health professions students. To help you to budget for your studies, there is also information on any additional costs that you may have to pay or can choose to pay in addition to your tuition fee.

Find out how tuition fees enable us to support all of our students with important services, facilities and resources across the university and check out our finance pages for info about fees, funding and scholarships along with advice on international and island fee-paying status.

You can chat with our enquiries team if you have a question or need more information.

What's included in your tuition fee

  • An initial set of specialist uniforms where appropriate.
  • DBS checks and occupational health checks.
  • Where health course includes a placement: UK students – travel costs which are over and above your daily journey to university and dual accommodation costs may be reimbursed by .
  • Course books, magazines and journals are available in the university libraries. You do not need to have your own copies. See the for an up-to-date list of key subject journals and databases.
  • You will have access to computers and necessary software on campus – and can borrow a laptop from us if yours is broken or you don’t have a computer at home. Specialist equipment is provided to cover essential learning.

Additional course costs

  • Where health course includes a placement: Overseas students are not covered by the NHS learning support fund. This means that any additional travel or accommodation costs for this course will be your responsibility. Travel to placement may be up to 90 mins each way/travel on public transport at peak time cost, and you may incur additional accommodation and living costs if staying away from your usual home base for the length of your placement.
  • You’ll need to budget for printing and stationery for personal study, and books if you decide to buy your own.   
  • In most cases coursework submissions are electronic but you may wish to print notes which would involve an extra cost.   
  • Many students choose to buy their own hardware, software and accessories. The amount spent will depend on your individual choices, but this expenditure is not essential to pass any of our courses.

Location and student life

Campus where this course is taught

Falmer campus

Set in the South Downs, our Falmer campus is around four miles from 91¶¶Òõ city centre. Students based here study a range of subjects including education studies, teaching, sport and exercise, nursing and midwifery, allied health professions and medicine. 91¶¶Òõ & Hove Albion’s Amex stadium and beautiful Stanmer Park are right next door.

Falmer campus has two halls of residence on site, as well as a library, restaurant, cafes and the Students’ Union shop and bar.

The campus has extensive sport and leisure facilities including a fitness suite, swimming pool, outdoor grass football and rugby pitches, sports hall, tennis and badminton courts, and dance and spin studios.

Specialist learning facilities at Falmer include the curriculum centre used by teaching and education students, which houses over 30,000 teaching resources, clinical skills and simulation suites used by health students, and labs and a strength and conditioning suite used by sport students. We’ve recently redeveloped the Falmer campus – learn more about the many facilities our students have access to.

Cycle lanes link Falmer with our other campuses and the city centre. There are regular bus services to the city centre and other campuses. Falmer train station is right next to campus and a nine-minute journey to central 91¶¶Òõ.

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Accommodation

We guarantee an offer of a place in halls of residence to all eligible students. So if you apply for halls by the deadline you are guaranteed a room in our halls of residence.

91¶¶Òõ: Falmer

Halls of residence
We have self-catered halls on all our campuses, within minutes of your classes, and other options that are very nearby.

You can apply for any of our halls, but the options closest to your study location are:

  • Paddock Field and Great Wilkins halls offer a range of rooms on our Falmer campus, minutes from your classes, and on the edge of the South Downs.
  • Varley Park is a popular dedicated halls site, offering a mix of rooms and bathroom options at different prices. It is around two miles from Falmer campus and four miles from the city centre, and is easy to get to by bus.

Want to live independently? We can help – find out more about private renting.

Outside views at Falmer accommodation

Outside views at Falmer accommodation

student outside the sport and health complex at Falmer

Extensive facilities at Falmer sports centre

Students dining at Westlain

Students dining at Westlain

Local area

One of Time Out's 50 best cities in the world

“91¶¶Òõ has… all the important parts of a sprawling cosmopolitan metropolis (connections to London in under an hour, an array of properly excellent restaurants, energetic late-night spots) … with the easy-breezy beachy attitude to life that makes you feel welcome in an instant.”
Time Out’s 50 Best Cities in the World, 2025

About 91¶¶Òõ

The 91¶¶Òõ is at the heart of our city's reputation as a welcoming, forward-thinking place which leads the way when it comes to the arts, music, sustainability and creative technology. 91¶¶Òõ is home to a thriving creative community and a digital sector worth £1bn a year to the local economy, as much as tourism.

Many of the work-based learning opportunities offered on our courses such as placements and guest lectures are provided by businesses and organisations based in the city.

You can also get involved with city festivals and events such as the 91¶¶Òõ Festival, the Fringe, 91¶¶Òõ Digital Festival, 91¶¶Òõ Science Festival, the London to 91¶¶Òõ bike ride, and the Great Escape festival of new music to name but a few. Other annual highlights include Pride, the 91¶¶Òõ Marathon, and Burning the Clocks which marks the winter solstice.

You'll find living in 91¶¶Òõ enriches your learning experience and by the end of your course you will still be finding new things to explore and inspire you.

It's only 50 minutes by train from 91¶¶Òõ to central London and there are daily direct trains to Bristol, Bedford, Cambridge, Gatwick Airport, Portsmouth and Southampton.

Map showing distance to London from 91¶¶Òõ
91¶¶Òõ Beach sunset

Maps

Falmer campus

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Support and wellbeing

Your course team

Your personal academic tutor, course leader and other tutors are all there to help you with your personal and academic progress. You'll also have a student support and guidance tutor (SSGT) who can help with everything from homesickness, managing stress or accommodation issues.

Your academic skills

Our 91¶¶Òõ Student Skills Hub gives you extra support and resources to develop the skills you'll need for university study, whatever your level of experience so far.

Your mental health and wellbeing

As well as being supported to succeed, we want you to feel good too. You'll be part of a community that builds you up, with lots of ways to connect with one another, as well having access to dedicated experts if you need them. Find out more about how we support your wellbeing.

Sport at 91¶¶Òõ

Sport 91¶¶Òõ

Sport 91¶¶Òõ brings together our sport and recreation services. As a 91¶¶Òõ student you'll have use of sport and fitness facilities across all our campuses and there are opportunities to play for fun, fitness or take part in serious competition. 

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Sports scholarships

Our sports scholarship scheme is designed to help students develop their full sporting potential to train and compete at the highest level. We offer scholarships for elite athletes, elite disabled athletes and talented sports performers.

Find out more about sport scholarships.

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Take a tour of sport facilities on our Falmer campus

Student views  

Sharon Whitmore 

“I am thoroughly enjoying the course so far. The best aspect is how well the modules run alongside one another and relate to my role at work. I find they give me a fantastic amount of information, which I am already putting into practice.

“Overall I think the whole experience will benefit me in the future and allow me to progress well in my career.

“After I have completed the course I would like to consolidate what I have learnt for a period of time before applying to the nursing degree apprenticeship.”

Sharon Whitmore

Louise Garrett 

“I enjoyed the course, in particular the evidence-based practice. I had a great tutor and it was very interesting.

“The course has taught me to question and research everything. I am constantly finding myself wanting to learn more about procedures and aspects of my job that I had never thought of before. I am always asking ‘why?’ and ‘could this be done better?’.

“I will use everything I have been taught in all sorts of different ways. When I complete the course, I would like to stay at the GPs I am in now but have more responsibility.”

Louise Garrett

Davina Lovell 

“My university experience hasn’t just taught me facts, figures and theories; it’s allowed me to grow, to become more open-minded and to consider aspects of care that I didn’t even know existed before. The depth of my knowledge now as I graduate in comparison to that on day one has grown so significantly I’m still astounded. Most importantly this growth and development is now benefiting the patients I care for and making a difference.

“Additionally, the support I received from university staff was truly exceptional. Their commitment and passion encouraged success and inspired me to continue with my learning journey by applying for a second university course.”

Davina was student of the year in her first year and also reintroduced the ‘lone worker in the community policy’ as part of her university project. This has made a great difference in ensuring safety and high-quality of care within her NHS trust.

Davina Lovell

Stay in touch

School of Education, Sport and Health Sciences
01273 644087
foundationdegreeadmissions@brighton.ac.uk

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