BSc (Hons) Mental Health Nursing (Advanced Standing)

The units you study for this course will depend your current qualifications. Please take a look at the content of our BSc (Hons) Mental Health Nursing course. This outlines the units for this course.

Once you’ve applied, our team will talk to you about which units you’ll need to study for this qualification.

Programme specifications provide definitive records of the university’s taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry. If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance.

With practical learning being integral to your degree, we provide practice simulation suites to mirror both clinical and community workplace settings and provide a safe environment.

We’re continuing to enhance our state-of-the-art facilities too – with the brand new, £48 million Bournemouth Gateway Building housing our Health & Social Care courses.

Visit our facilities page to find out more – you can also take a 360° tour to get a feel for where you’ll be studying while you’re based on our Lansdowne Campus.

When on placement you are required to work 150 hours every four weeks and experience the full 24-hour shift pattern to include 12–13-hour shifts, weekends and night shifts. Although your term time address and method of transport are taken into consideration when allocating your placements, there is an expectation that all students will have to travel across large areas including some of a more rural nature to reach their placements.

Your learning will either predominantly be based at our Lansdowne Campus (though Talbot campus is also utilised), while clinical placements will be organised by locality in a variety of places within Dorset, Wiltshire and Hampshire in order to provide the necessary breadth of experience.

Please note - placement localities are allocated at the time of your offer for your course. You will not be able to change your main placement locality once you start. Once you have been allocated your locality this will remain for the remainder of your time on the course.

You will need to consider the realities of placements within the geographical area you have been given and be realistic as to whether this will be manageable and suitable for you – whilst being flexible may in some circumstances increase your chances of success, being unrealistic will lead to challenges. You should also consider carefully where you choose accommodation during your studies. 

Although you will be allocated a placement locality, to ensure that you get to experience a range of placement experiences needed for successful course completion, you may be expected to change location for a portion of your placement time.

Below are some examples of the trusts we work with:

• Dorset: Dorset Healthcare University Foundation Trust 
• South Wiltshire: The Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, primarily across the Salisbury area
• Hampshire: The Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust

Each of our courses contains a significant amount of placement experience, with this often being undertaken in outlying areas rather than solely in towns/cities. You need to consider this when making your application and be clear about what you will be undertaking.

Our geographical footprint for placement is vast – covering four counties in the South; Dorset, Wiltshire and Hampshire. This ensures we are able to provide you with a wealth of clinical experience across a variety of areas of the healthcare service, including opportunities to experience placements in both urban and rural communities.

Although your term-time address and method of transport are taken into consideration when allocating your placements there is an expectation that all students will have to travel across large areas including some of a more rural nature to reach their placements, in some cases this can be more than 40miles away from Bournemouth, and some travel will be outside normal working hours due to the nature of shift work. You must ensure that you have means to travel to your placement location at unsociable hours and this may require you to use short-term accommodation options in order to participate in your placement. To help you with this, the NHS learning support fund can support you with placement travel expenses and dual accommodation costs if required.

• When processing your application, the admissions team will consider your motivation and your recent experience
• Students will need to provide a full transcript of your pre-registration nurse training
• We will require references from both your current employment and your educator
• All applicants will be interviewed before being offered a place
• You will be required to have an Occupational Health assessment. We will always make an offer of a place subject to passing Occupational Health clearance
• You will also be required to undergo the Disclosure and Barring Service checks. You will be sent a Disclosure Application Form which you must complete fully and return to us with the necessary supporting documentation prior to commencement.

In the healthcare sector IT is now a vital tool for accessing and maintaining patient records, accessing literature to client care and conducting clinically-related research. As a student you will receive an introduction to IT near the beginning of your course and you will be provided with computer access and your own email address.

During the course you will be expected to use your developing IT skills to produce assignments, to conduct literature searches, and to use client-related record systems in the clinical setting. Following instruction some of your study will be undertaken through web-based learning tools, for example by participating in online discussions.

We select candidates for this course by looking at your application. For that reason, make sure your application really stands out from the crowd, and leave us in no doubt as to why you should be joining BU. View our flowchart for information on how we process applications for courses with additional selection measures. 
 
For our health and social care courses our admissions team use the DRIVE criteria to assess your application and evidence of this must be show in your personal statement. You can also find some handy hints about filling in your UCAS form on our how to apply web pages. 
 
Please note that interviews are part of our selection process and you must be able to demonstrate at interview that you show the necessary insight into nursing, as well as the motivation and commitment to become a nurse.

What to expect at interview

Your interview will take place online, on a free video communication platform.

A member of the Admissions Team will email you with joining instructions and information about what to expect at interview.

Your individual interview is where you will have the opportunity to tell us a little more about yourself and why you would be a great candidate for the course. You will be scored using a common template and offers will be made based on these scores.

If you are invited to interview, you will also be able to access online on-demand information presentations, course talks, virtual campus tours and more which you can watch before your interview. On the day of your interview you may also be able to join a live chat-room where you can ask questions to our current student ambassadors and other members of staff.

Additional reference:

In addition to the reference on your UCAS form, once we’ve received your application we may contact you to ask for a second reference; depending on the course you’ve applied for, this may be an academic reference, or from an employer or person who knows you in a professional capacity.

Our offer-making will typically be based on your most recent qualifications, including any required subjects where applicable. We'll consider all qualifications when assessing your application, although these may not be part of our offer.

If you do not meet the criteria of your original offer, we may still offer you a place. We will review your whole application and consider all academic qualifications (including those not in the offer) to see if you have the academic potential to succeed on the course. If we feel the answer is yes, we will confirm your place.

We look at individual applications and make a tailored offer based on your potential to succeed on the course considering a range of factors, including your academic achievements, work and other experience, reference and personal statement, and in some cases, your performance at an interview or a portfolio review. Typically, we make an offer at the bottom of the tariff range.

If you are unable to meet the entry requirements, we may be able to make you an offer through AccessBU if you meet certain criteria e.g. you have been in care or live in an area where fewer people typically progress to Higher Education. If you don't meet our published tariff, we will accept you at least 8 points below if your personal circumstances match our AccessBU criteria. 

This programme is designed for practising nurses who want to move from one part of the nursing register to another and will provide you with excellent career progression opportunities. Among the roles you can take on once you graduate are:

• Mental health nurse in an in-patient environment (e.g. acute admissions unit, elderly care, treatment wards, psychiatric intensive care unit or rehabilitation)
• Community mental health nurse
• Staff nurse
• Specialist nurse (covering the likes of eating disorders, addictions, forensic psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry or psychological therapist).

Graduates from this course generally go on to work in the healthcare and education sectors.

Once you have completed an undergraduate Honours degree, you can also further develop your education by studying for a postgraduate degree. Please visit our postgraduate section for further details about our range of Master’s degrees.

Once you have completed an undergraduate Honours degree and perhaps following some time in clinical practice you may wish to consider returning to BU to further develop your education! There are various options including working towards a Masters qualification, a postgraduate research degree or choose from our portfolio of continued professional development (CPD) units and courses. 

Research degrees

If you are a BU graduate you are eligible for a 20% ‘loyalty’ discount on the published fees for further programmes with us! 

Depending on your qualifications and experiences, you can choose to undertake a MRes or PhD level research degree. Bournemouth University has a strong nursing research foundation within our Department of Nursing Science and through a number of research centres, including the Nursing for Long Term Health Research Centre, which explores theory, education and professional practice.

Visit our postgraduate research courses for further details about research degree options with the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences and the funding options available.

MSc Health Research

Our MSc Health Research degree has been designed to take you through the research process from formulating a suitable research question to designing the study and collecting appropriate data, and reporting the findings to different audiences. All of this will provide opportunities to work with academics and clinicians experienced in conducting health and social care research. The work you will do as part of this course will provide opportunities for you to create research outputs (e.g. manuscripts for publication) to contribute to a portfolio of research experience suitable for applications related to future research study (e.g. NIHR Clinical Doctoral Fellowship), or to further your career as part of a research team (e.g. research nurse). 

If you are a BU graduate you are eligible for a 20% ‘loyalty’ discount on the published fees for this course. Scholarship opportunities may also be available.

CPD

Once you have some experience of clinical practice you may wish to consider studying a unit or course from our Continuing Professional Development (CPD) portfolio. This may be related to an area you wish to specialise in or move into, or it may be to enhance your career opportunities. We have a wide range of options to consider. We understand that fitting study in around your busy working life can be a challenge, but we have a number of flexible courses that allow you to study bite-sized units at your convenience, while working towards a bigger qualification. 

Find out more about CPD at BU.

What’s included in your tuition fee?

Your tuition fee covers expenses associated with your course including tuition materials, access to facilities, mandatory field trips and the following:

• Materials for laboratory and mandatory field-based teaching activity
• Support for finding placements (UK or abroad) and/or fieldwork and non-financial support whilst on placement
• A range of student services – advisors, help desks, counsellors, placement support and careers service
• Access to Brightspace, our virtual learning environment, which offers a responsive and personalised learning experience with powerful learning analytics capabilities, integrated social media and advanced video features
• The Library – access to a wide range of electronic resources (databases, e-journals and e-books), print and multimedia collections, subject librarians and study spaces
• IT labs (some open 24/7), wireless network, AV equipment to borrow
• Free software download to your personal device of Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus while you are studying, as well as access to applications provided on AppsAnywhere, subject to licensing and compatibility restrictions
• Disability and additional learning support, according to individual circumstances 
• Professional body accreditation of the course
• Occupational Health Services and checks but you will be charged if you do not attend Occupational Health appointments without giving appropriate notice.
• We will provide you with one standard set of uniform. Additional uniform items must be ordered by students, and this will incur an additional cost. Students will need to purchase appropriate footwear.

Additional costs

We are committed to offering you value for money and ensuring there are no hidden costs while you are studying with us, therefore we have listed below any additional costs you may incur that are not covered by your tuition fee:

• Laptops, tablets and mobile devices and any software used on personal devices. Access to a personal computer is strongly recommended for your study. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, visit our website for information regarding hardship funds.
• Textbooks, general stationery and other supplies. Our award-winning library is stocked with a large range of textbooks and online resources, free of charge. The Students’ Union shop stocks a wide range of stationery supplies.
• You will need to meet the cost of an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check as a condition of enrolment, including any Post Office verification charges. You will be required to pay the fee of £54.22 in full at the Post Office when they are verifying your ID.
• You may need to pay for immunisations if they are not covered by your GP.
• Accommodation and living costs. Please visit our website for more information.
• Travel costs to and from the University campus (including for occupational health referrals if required). An annual bus pass can be purchased alongside your rent if you are living in halls of residence/Unilet accommodation or may be purchased separately.
• Your placement could be at various locations across the southwest region. You will need to pay for travel costs to and from your placement (including car parking charges) and for accommodation. Eligible UK students may claim reimbursement towards travel and accommodation costs from the NHS. Please visit the NHS Business Services Authority website for more information. International students will need to cover these costs in addition to their course fee. 
• There may be an additional charge for replacement uniforms.
• You may have the opportunity to study abroad as part of your programme, and there may be some additional costs attached to this.
• SportBU membership.

While all aspects of the programme, including required field trips, are included in the fee, additional, optional or extra curricula activities may be available for which a student contribution is required.

If you need to repeat one or more units during your studies (with or without attendance) the pricing will be pro-rata of the full-time fee.