
Emma Gooding
Senior Lecturer - Learning Disability Nursing
Faculty of Health, Education and Society
DiscoverUCAS Code:
B703
Level:
Undergraduate
Duration:
3 years Full-time
Starting:
September
Fees UK 24/25:
Full Time: £9,250
Fees International 24/25:
Full Time: £17,700
Location:
For questions regarding study and admissions please contact us:
Our BSc Learning Disability Nursing degree will develop your understanding of the needs of people with learning disabilities to enable you to work in a range of practice settings in health and social care.
You will learn crucial disability nursing skills on this learning disability nursing course, through a combination of innovative theory and practical experiences which will be delivered using online learning units, alongside traditionally taught sessions and an electronic portfolio for practice development. With our practice partners, we offer support throughout your placements through the experienced support of mentors and an academic link tutor.
Our Nursing programmes are ranked 5th in the country in the Best UK University Guardian League table (2022).
The BSc Learning Disability Nursing course at UON has been approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). This means you can be confident that this programme meets the standards of education, training, conduct and performance required for nurses in the UK.
Updated 29/11/2023
The Learning Disability Nursing degree at UON has been designed to contribute towards achieving the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: SDG3 of Good Health and Wellbeing and SDG5 Gender Equality.
Our vision is to enable people with learning disabilities to lead healthy and valued lives. We want to make this a reality by recruiting people who are passionate about caring with learning disabilities and want to make a positive difference to their lives.
This Learning Disability Nursing course gives you a registration through the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) as a nurse for people with learning disabilities. This field equips you with nursing skills to work within health and social care environments with people with learning disabilities. Studying this course will enable you to work with a wide range of other professions that care for people with learning disabilities and their families. The practical placements that you will take throughout this nursing learning disability degree will be in a variety of health, education and social care settings with people of all ages that have a range of learning disabilities.
After successful completion of this programme, you’ll be awarded an Honours degree and can register as a Nurse with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). This will allow you to practice in accordance with the NHS Constitution which is underpinned by the core NHS values.
Taught elements include:
What separates us from other learning disability nurse courses is our amazing teaching staff, all of whom are professionally and academically qualified within their field. You will be allocated a Personal Academic Tutor (PAT) who will be a professional within the nursing team and would normally remain your PAT for the three years of your study. They can offer you continued support and guidance.
The University of Northampton is one of only four universities in the country to belong to the European Nursing Module. This offers the possibility of a two week placement in one of around 24 different European countries.
You can experience a different health system, culture and life experience and gain an insight into the issues that are faced in an overseas nursing environment. This opportunity is available at a specifically negotiated time during your Learning Disability Nursing course, usually within the second or third stage of study.
Please note that you will have to meet the entire costs of this module yourself including flights, accommodation, food and travel within these countries where possible costs are kept to a minimum and financial help is available. The cost of the placement is dependent on the country you choose, it can range from approximately £500-800.
The two weeks spent overseas for this module count as placement hours as agreed with the NMC.
The University of Northampton is one of only three universities that offer this module as well as the 11 week Erasmus placement.
Please note the modules shown here relate to the academic year 23/24. The modules relating to the academic year 24/25 will be available from June 2024.
Applicants must be 18 years old by the 2nd month of commencing pre-registration nursing programmes and all applicants must have 10 years of consecutive education.
Please note that we may consider other qualifications not listed above on an individual basis, please contact our Admissions team to discuss these in further detail.
All International and EU students applying for a course with us must meet the following minimum English language requirements:
For more information on the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) English language entry criteria, please follow the NMC website.
For information regarding English language requirements at the University, please see our IELTS page.
After applying via UCAS and meeting the entry requirements, you will be invited to an interview. You will be interviewed by our Learning Disability Nursing academic staff and faculty members which may sometimes include current students and service users.
You will receive further information and the interview preparation instructions from us by email before your interview. If you have any questions, please email us at: interviews@northampton.ac.uk
As part of your interview preparation, look out for health features in national newspapers. We also recommend you keep up to date with current health care and nursing issues by visiting the following sites:
This Learning Disability Nurse course is compliant with Nursing and Midwifery Council requirements. You will be expected to study a minimum of 2,300 hours theory and 2,300 hours practice across the three years. The course is compliant with Nursing and Midwifery Council requirements. You will be expected to study a minimum of 2,300 hours theory and 2,300 hours practice across the three years.
The practical placements that you will take throughout this course will be in a variety of health, education, social care, community, the voluntary sector and other health and social care organisations with people of all ages that have a range of learning disabilities. The placement learning opportunities are throughout Northamptonshire and beyond.
This course is compliant with Nursing and Midwifery Council requirements. For more information on educational standards required for nursing please visit the Nursing and Midwifery Council website.
Fees quoted relate to study in the Academic Year 24/25 only and may be subject to inflationary increases in future years.
Fees quoted relate to study in the Academic Year 23/24 only and may be subject to inflationary increases in future years.
Financial contribution towards your travel and expenses, in relation to your practice learning opportunities, may be available for you from the NHS Learning Support Fund. Details, including eligibility criteria, can be found on the NHS website.
For information on the scholarships available to you, please see our scholarships page.
For more information about possible funding options, please visit our Fees and Funding pages.
At the University of Northampton, everything we do, from funded trips to paid internships, is to give you everything you need to make a difference when you leave.
If you join our full-time Learning Disability Nursing degree at Northampton, you will receive a laptop when your course begins*. The laptops are built to a bespoke custom specification ideal for use in the seminar room, collaborative group work or studying at home.
Whatever your ambitions, we’re here to help you to achieve them. We’ll support you to identify the skills you’re learning during your course, find your strengths and secure practical experience so that when it comes to applying for jobs or further study you’ll feel confident in standing out from the crowd. We’ve created the Northampton Employment Promise because we are so confident that if you focus on your studies and complete one of our awards you’ll be highly employable by the time you graduate. Putting you in a great position to secure employment or continue your studies.
To check out the full list of perks, visit our Student Perks page or dedicated International Perks page.
* UK fee payers only (see Terms and Conditions for further details)
The nursing skills labs, based at our Waterside campus, are used throughout the studies to enhance learning in the clinical settings. The Nursing labs have a purpose-built clinical ward where students can learn and develop their clinical skills through practice-based, hands-on education. This specialist facility makes the Learning Disability Nurse courses at UON absolutely unique. You will practise scenarios from a real-life hospital ward in a realistic, yet safe clinical environment.
The fully interactive VR (Virtual Reality) system and mannequins allow students to ‘treat’ people in a variety of nursing settings, giving them ‘as close to real-life as possible’ training. This includes actual conversations with the characters in the scenario and gives clinical feedback that is matched to the student’s learning objectives.
We use a variety of methods of assessment on our Learning Disability Nursing course, including:
All assessments are marked in accordance with University regulations. All external examiners are registered nurses who also hold teaching qualifications approved by the NMC.
Our University is now a part of a well-established, professional European network for Nursing and Midwifery. The Florence Network offers opportunities for future health careers and development to staff, academics and students. For more information about how this affects learning disability nursing, visit the Florence Network.
From September 2019 we are offering an exciting new curriculum based on The Nursing and Midwifery standards for education 2018. The curriculum is innovative utilising an active blend learning approach and an extensive range of support is always available. The curriculum also offers placement learning opportunities throughout Northamptonshire and beyond.
"The University programme prepared me for the challenges of supporting clients daily. All the time spent constructing evidence-based essays now finally makes perfect sense." - Lauretta Ofulue -
Senior Lecturer - Learning Disability Nursing
Faculty of Health, Education and Society
DiscoverSenior Lecturer - Learning Disability Nursing
Faculty of Health, Education and Society
DiscoverSenior Lecturer - Learning Disability Nursing
Faculty of Health, Education and Society
DiscoverOn completion of the Learning Disability Nursing degree at UON, you could pursue a wide range of professional careers in health and social care and research.
Professional roles that you could progress to include Registered Nurse, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Community Nurse, Strategic Healthcare Facilitator, School Nurse, Prison Nurse, Nurse Consultant, Nurse Educator, Nurse Researcher
Manager.
For further information visit the NHS careers webpage.
"[The Learning Disability Nursing BSc (Hons) course has] given me a scope of the different services for people with learning disabilities and where I would like to work when qualified." - Sarah Jane Day -
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