April 2025

Mental Health Nursing (MSc)

Master's Degree, Postgraduate, April 2025

Mental health is as important as physical health. Modern society is becoming increasingly aware of this fact. A career in mental health nursing is challenging, satisfying and life-changing. You can make a positive difference to people’s lives every day. Our person-centred nursing degrees will equip you to deliver exceptional care as a confident, capable and compassionate mental health nurse. Subject to approval with the NMC

Mental health problems currently affect one in four of the UK population.

If you’re caring and compassionate, with exceptional communication skills and a real passion for helping people, this post graduate degree is for you.

Other courses from our School of Nursing and Allied Health can be viewed here.

Mental Health Nurses support and care for individuals who are experiencing difficulties with their mental health, and are in a critical role to positively impact and influence the outcomes for people.

The programme provides you with the knowledge and understanding of different mental health problems and how these impact the individual, their family and society during their life span.

Our programme is developed in partnership with our skilled academic staff, clinical practice partners and experts by experience. The course at Newman University, puts people at the centre of care delivery.

As a post graduate nursing student at Newman you will develop into a professional nurse who can assess and manage the health needs of people, at some of the most challenging times of their lives.

Our aim is to your development into a registered nurse who is able to work flexibly across a range of healthcare settings and meet the health needs of the whole person.

We will work with you on your development to help you become a skilled, knowledgeable, emotionally intelligent nurse, able to lead and co-ordinate compassionate, evidence-based, person- and family-centred care while working as an integral member of the interdisciplinary team.

As a post graduate student nurse with Newman University, you will gain theoretical and practice knowledge to develop a range of key skills. This will include: exploring the evidence that underpins person- and family-centred care; professional values; self-leadership; and the role of the registered nurse.

As you progress through the programme you will explore evidence-based complex care incorporating a wide range of research, skills, team leadership and principles of coordinating care. You will be supported to build on your previous learning and develop proficiency in adult nursing. The modules you study will develop you as a leader who uses research-informed critical thinking to co-ordinate care, supervise other health professionals and gain confidence in the safe management of medication.

You will have individual support throughout the programme through a named personal tutor. The tuition will enrich your learning experiences and will enable you to reflect meaningfully on your practice and the development of your individual field identity.

As part of the course you will be provided with practice placements to help you to develop your nursing skills and knowledge in a variety of settings.

Your placement learning experiences may be within community, hospital or home environment settings and at a location anywhere within the West Midlands and potentially into neighbouring counties. You should be aware that placements are valuable learning experiences and cannot be chosen. While on placement you will be supported, supervised and assessed by practice and academic staff to develop your knowledge and skills.

We are committed to providing excellent, innovative, learning, teaching and assessment experiences, through lectures, seminars, skills simulation, virtual learning as well as meaningful input from our practice partners and experts by experience. As part of the course we will enable you to develop the independent learning skills that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement.

Whilst on the course you will benefit from some of the best university facilities of their kind, including clinical skills suites and our state-of-the-art immersive suite. Our experienced and enthusiastic teaching team will provide full support to help you achieve your ambitions.

This course is subject to approval by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

  • Funding – Adult Nursing students will receive at least £5,000 a year in additional funding for maintenance and associated study costs – see NHS release. Mental Health Nursing students will receive at least £6,000 a year in additional funding for maintenance and associated study costs – see NHS release.
  • You will benefit from our new state of the art clinical simulation and immersive suites.
  • We offer smaller class sizes and excellent academic and pastoral support for our students
  • You will have the opportunity to study on an inter professional basis alongside other nursing and allied health students.
  • Birmingham is one of the UK’s most diverse cities outside of London, which provides you with a wide variety of experience that will be valuable to take forward into your future career.
  • Student finance – have you already had a student loan to study an undergraduate degree but would like to do a post graduate degree in nursing, midwifery or the allied health professions? You may still be eligible for funding.

Our adult/mental health nursing degree will enable you to become a registered nurse. You will learn from a highly experienced and passionate teaching team who will provide support to help you achieve your nursing ambition. Working with a number of practice partners you will gain practical experience on a range of clinical placements. The new clinical simulation facilities, include a state-of-the-art immersive lab, hospital wards, clinic environments as well as a community environment.

Find out here how our state of the art simulation equipment, and partnerships with leading healthcare trusts, will help you to prepare you for your chosen career.

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Entry Requirements

Standard 2-year entry requirements

2:2 BSc (Hons) degree, usually in a health related subject

Plus:

GCSE/IGCSE English language and maths grades 9-4/A*-C or equivalent

Candidates must have achieved these before commencing on the MSc programme.

Candidates applying for the MSc programme will need to evidence 600 hours RPL of care experience of other relevant work experience. This needs to be verified by someone who is on a professional register. In line with NMC requirements RPL cannot total more than 50% of the programme unless you are a registered nurse seeking an additional field of practice and there are no restrictions on your practise. All RPL claims for NMC programmes are scrutinised on an individual basis and are also assessed by an external examiner as part of the School of Nursing and Allied RPL/RPEL process.

Candidates must also complete an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check which must be satisfactory prior to commencing the course.

The Admissions team will use the entrance criteria, as well as the personal statement, reference and work experience information, to shortlist candidates for interview. Successful applicants will be invited to an interview– Candidates will be assessed on their motivation and understanding of the role of a nurse and familiarity with the NHS Constitution and Values and the requirements of an NMC registered nurse.

Health Checks

As part of the health clearance checks you will be required to provide information about your immunity and vaccination status. Candidates must prove they have been immunised against Rubella, Measles, Tuberculosis and Hepatitis B. We strongly recommend that all successful applicants (unless exempt on medical grounds) receive a full course of Covid-19 and Influenza vaccinations prior to commencing the course.

Candidates must receive a satisfactory occupational health clearance prior to commencing the course.

Course Fees

The full-time course fee for April 2025 is £9,250 per year.

The University will review tuition fees and increase fees in line with any inflationary uplift as determined by the UK Government, if permitted by law or government policy, in subsequent years of your course. It is anticipated that such increases would be linked to RPI (the Retail Price Index excluding mortgage interest payments).

Additional costs

DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) clearance is a mandatory entry requirement for the course.

For more information on your DBS application please click here.​

Find out more about the other additional costs associated with our undergraduate degrees.

Additional Funding

From September 2020 students studying Nursing BSc, Midwifery BSc, Physiotherapy BSc, Occupational Therapy BSc and Paramedic Science BSc will receive a non-repayable and non-means-tested payment of at least £5,000 a year, in addition to existing mainstream student support.

There will also be additional funding available on some prioritised courses. Additional funding will also be available for childcare and to support regional recruitment difficulties. Total additional funding could come to as much as £3,000 per year for some students.

The new funding will be offered to continuing students as well as new course entrants.

The new financial support is intended to provide additional funding and not to replace the maintenance loan.

This funding is made available by the government. Students are advised to check the latest information from the government to confirm their eligibility.