Master’s in Nursing in the UK

Nursing is one of the most varied and challenging careers anyone can undertake. Nursing is frequently described as exciting and fulfilling; no two days are the same. Our MSc is your entry route through to nurse registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council as a nurse in the child health field. Graduates in any discipline with recent health care experience can apply for our two year programme.

On completion you will progress on to a rewarding career and work in a range of healthcare settings nationally or internationally. Once you know a nursing career is for you, and you are ready for advanced level study, then join us on this tailor made programme which is designed to recognise the skills that graduates already have and build on these.

As a specialist mental health nurse, the one-to-one relationships you build with those in need are vital to their care and to helping them overcome challenges.

Half study, half mentored practice, this course develops your professional insight and empathy through diverse work experience.

The degree has a strong experiential element to it – and a focus on service user, carer and practitioner involvement. On graduation, you'll be able to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) as a qualified registered nurse.

Please note that this course is specifically for applicants with a Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) in Nursing with Registration who wish to complete a dissertation in order to upgrade to an MSc. If you hold a bachelor's degree in a non-Nursing related subject and wish to pursue a masters degree in Nursing with Registration as an Adult/Child/Mental Health Nurse. If you are already a qualified Nurse with a bachelor's degree and are looking for an advanced level masters course in Nursing, please see our Postgraduate course list on our Post-qualification education page. International students with bachelor's degrees in Nursing may find the MSc Clinical Nursing of particular interest; those with undergraduate diplomas may be interested in the one-year BSc Nursing Studies. Ready to take on more responsibility in your nursing role? Develop your critical thinking, expand your knowledge of evidence-based practice and become more confident in carrying out research in a clinical setting.

Advancing nursing knowledge, skills and attributes are essential to underpin professional practice. The MSc Nursing: Advancing Professional Practice provides registered nurses with an educational platform for career development by undertaking focused study on advancing their decision making, leadership and clinical knowledge, skills and attributes within specific areas of practice. 

This course recognises the ever-changing complexity of care and offers a range of flexible and elective study options, which are educationally responsive to changing direction of global and UK policy. Exit awards include a flexible programme - MSc Nursing: Advancing Professional Practice, and pathways for MSc/PgD Nursing: Advancing Professional Practice (Advanced Nurse Practitioner) and MSc Nursing: Advancing Professional Practice (District Nursing). 

Contributing staff on the MSc Nursing: Advancing Professional Practice course are active in leading research and policy development in collaboration with groups such as; Association of Advanced Practice Educators (AAPEUK), International Council of Nurses ANP group, Health Literacy UK, International Union of Health Promotion and Education, Queens Nursing Institute, NHS Education for Scotland, British Heart Foundation.

If you're a highly motivated graduate with care experience who wishes to become a registered mental health nurse and gain an MSc in an accelerated two year timeframe, the MSc Nursing graduate entry programme is perfect for you. 

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) introduced new educational standards, which identified the importance of parity between mental health and physical health care (NMC, 2018a). The Mental health nursing field welcomes this and recognises that the lifespan of people with mental health problems is shorter compared to the general population (DH, 2011; Nash, 2010). The mental health field will develop a nurse who is culturally competent, empowered and able to work in partnership with service users, their families and the wider community.

The programme builds your academic skill sets, professional responsibility and technical complexity related to patient care throughout the two years. Successful completion of this innovative programme will ensure you will meet the registration requirements of the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

The programme meets the NMC standards for pre-registration nursing education. The NMC (2018a) reviewed their standards with the publication of ‘Future Nurse: Standards of Proficiency for Registered Nurses’ and this programme reflects the comprehensive range of subject knowledge, clinical skills and leadership required of the registered Nurse from September 2020. This programme also meets the requirements of the Higher Education (HE) quality standards. Quality Academic Assurance Standards (QAA) are also met through the Frameworks for HE qualifications of UK degree-awarding bodies (QAA, 2014), and the Higher Education Credit Framework for England (QAA, 2008). 

The Keele ‘Future Nurse’ MSc Nursing programme has been designed to meet the seven NMC platforms, which underpin pre-registration nursing education (NMC, 2018a). These require you, regardless of your chosen field, to demonstrate core knowledge, skills, standards, behaviours to meet people’s needs, as well as field-specific knowledge and skills as required in either adult, children’s, learning disability or mental health nursing.

Nurses are the professional face of healthcare, the calm voice explaining a procedure.

They are the go-to figures providing unwavering support, the ones ensuring patient safety and giving care no matter what the circumstances.

We’ve designed our MSc Adult Nursing (Pre-registration) course around the core values of the NHS constitution so that you understand what’s required in caring for and supporting vulnerable adults.

The MSc Adult Nursing (Pre-registration) is an accelerated postgraduate course developed for those who have already graduated with an undergraduate degree. You'll gain the experience and skills required to practice as an adult nurse in two years, rather than the traditional three-year route.

Our aim is to make sure we prepare you for the challenges you may face and develop the expertise you’ll need to become a leader in nursing. You’ll learn how to assess your patient’s needs and provide sensitive support, and how to collaborate with colleagues across a range of professions (including doctors, physiotherapists and dieticians).

You’ll spend half of your time studying in clinical placements or in simulation-based learning incorporating a variety of settings, with support from a practice supervisor/assessor or academic throughout. This may include an operating theatre, accident and emergency, a community health centre, an intensive care unit, an outpatients department or a nursing home.

When you're on campus you'll be based in our award-winning Brooks building, equipped with hospital-standard, specialist health facilities and simulation technology.

Working in small groups in our clinical simulation suite, you’ll learn many skills to support the development of your practice. It’s here that you’ll work on simulations of a patient’s journey from admission to discharge.

All of our teaching team in the Department of Nursing are registered nurses, health visitors, advanced practitioners or academics. Many have won awards in their own specialist areas and are recognised and respected in the region and nationally for their contributions.

Our Nursing department has been recognised in the Student Nursing Times Awards and the Guardian League Tables which celebrate the very best in student nurses and nursing education.

The Master of Science (MSc) in Nursing is a challenging post graduate qualification for nurses, midwives or health visitors from all fields of practice. This course will assist qualified staff to develop personally and professionally in a wide range of topics and issues including communication, health promotion, leadership, person-centred practice and research.

In the full-time mode, the MSc Nursing it is typically completed over one calendar year.

This Masters course builds on the knowledge, skills and experience you have already gained from an undergraduate degree in nursing and will enable you to further develop your skills of critical enquiry, using evidence in practice, and develop your confidence in undertaking research. You’ll learn how to further develop yourself as a leader, to enable change and continuous improvement in practice. Nursing is increasingly a profession where higher qualifications are essential, so a Masters qualification can help you in pursuit of higher-level management, education or clinical roles within healthcare settings both in the UK and overseas.

As a registered nurse or midwife this course meets the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) professional standards for specialist community public health nurses (Health Visiting or School Nursing or Sexual Health Adviser). It can also lead to a new and rewarding career in public health nursing.

You’ll be equipped with skills to act as a clinician, educator, manager and leader, to proactively meet changing public healthcare needs. And you’ll be better able to respond to the expectations and demands of individuals, groups and populations in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic society. 

You can register as a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse on the third part of the Nursing and Midwifery register.

And, as the course is mapped to the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework, it will help with career progression.

The course promotes independent, shared and autonomous learning developing you as a specialist community public health nurse.

Combining Health Assessment with specific modules in Critical Care this course aims to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of clinical assessment skills and their application to critical care nursing.

This course is for is for students that want to make a real difference to the health and wellbeing of people with learning disabilities. The course has a strong practical focus and will give you the knowledge, skills and approaches you need to become a registered nurse (learning disability) with the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

This course prepares you for a career in person-centred professional practice across a variety of health and social care settings. You will learn how to enable design and evaluation of care for people with learning disabilities and their families. You will be challenged to develop skills in gathering, analysing and synthesising evidence to ensure health inequalities and social isolation are confronted and resolved.

You'll gain hands-on experience in our award-winning simulation suite and develop your skills and confidence in working with people with a learning disability by learning with the famous Baked Bean Theatre Company and other service users.

You'll also have the opportunity to be a part of the wider Learning Disability Nursing UK and Eire network and can attend the Positive Choices Conference.

This course is designed for a small cohort of students, where you'll benefit from individual learning and support. You will be taught by our dynamic teaching team which includes leading researchers and experts in learning disability nursing from practice and the Department of Health. Our students are highly sought after and receive multiple job offers before their course is complete.

Mental health nurses support patients with a wide range of issues including anxiety, depression, addiction, and eating disorders. They work in a settings such as in hospitals or the community and help people manage their illness and improve their lives.

This Master's degree enables graduates from a range of backgrounds the opportunity to transfer their skills to become a registered nurse (mental health). The course is aimed at graduates of a degree in a relevant discipline who aspire to qualify for eligibility to apply to the Nursing and Midwifery Council Register.

The BSc Children and Young People (CYP) Nursing course will prepare you for providing holistic care across a variety or healthcare and social settings. As a qualified nurse you will work in partnership with children, young people under the age of 16 years old, and their families to improve and support their health and wellbeing.

• Our nursing programmes are approved to the NMC’s new Future nurse: Standards of Proficiency for registered nurses
• The MSc route leads to registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council at the end of the two year course, as long as you meet the NMC’s requirements
• You will adopt a person-centred approach to care, develop critical evaluation skills and develop the caring professionalism required to thrive in your career as a nurse
  • The course will equip you with vital nursing skills and our use of clinical supervision throughout the course will enable you to develop resilience and reflective practice

The MSc Nursing course will allow you to examine contemporary nursing issues from a clinical perspective. Available to nurses who hold a registration in the UK or another country, this course offers an exciting mix of theory and practical application through the use of enquiry-based learning and workshops where a range of table top exercises and simulation will be utilised to develop your practical  and management skills and knowledge.

This 20-month course commences in January, with a break between June and August. This allows you the time to seek your own placement, living and study abroad opportunities during this time should you wish.

Throughout the duration of your course you will have access to our leading facilities and dedicated Clinical Skills Centre.