PgCert Healthcare Management, Leadership and Innovation

Duration	1 year
Course type	Part-time
Study location	Plymouth or distance learning

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Enhance your skills in the areas of management, leadership and innovation - required by a wide range of healthcare professionals and health service managers. MSc Healthcare Management, Leadership and Innovation is designed to be a highly flexible entry into management within the health and care service, whether your interests lie in leadership, quality improvement, innovation methodology, organisation development, patient safety, or education.

Your career as a healthcare professional starts here

The first-class new home for our healthcare teaching and research providing students with skills to meet the needs of 21st century careers.

InterCity Place

A unique new learning space where undergraduate and postgraduate students from the largest breadth of health disciplines in the South-West learn together under one roof, with expert practitioners.

Medical students using the Anatomage table clinical

Plymouth Integrative Health and Social Care Education Centre (PIHC)

Experience an interprofessional learning environment across our health programmes that will prepare you for life as a healthcare professional.

Become a healthcare professional of the future

Collaboration across the schools helps students to learn with, from and about each other, gaining the real-world experience employers seek.

Key features

Benefit from flexible learning – there are a number of continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities relating to this programme where a single module or specific days within a module may be taken independently. Please email admissions@plymouth.ac.uk to find out more.
Improve your leadership and management skills – this programme is designed to develop your knowledge and abilities as a leader, manager and innovative thinker, and is appropriate if you are a doctor, dentist, manager or a healthcare professional working in a care environment.
Be supported by a blended learning approach with face-to-face sessions, access to interactive materials, electronic learning environment and tutorial support.
Select APEL (Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning) as an option for this programme. For example, if you have completed the Plymouth/Bristol Professional and Generic Skills programme, you may use this in place of the Leadership in healthcare: theory into practice module.
A 20 credit module equates to 200 hours of study (including guided and independent study and assessments). The time commitment for each 20 credit module is expected to be around 8 to 12 hours per week. This is an indicative figure and may vary.

Course details

Year 1
You will study aspects of management, leadership and innovation in healthcare, relevant to professionals seeking to lead services and organisations into the future and explore the management and leadership theories pertinent to health and care practice.
Core modules
Leadership in Healthcare: Theory and Practice (HML713)
Learners with be provided with a broad-based introduction to the field of health service leadership. Key leadership theories and trends will be explored along with how they relate to the real world. Concepts around quality, leadership to drive improvement and innovation will also be discussed. Finally, the importance of understanding and equipping ourselves in the context of leadership will be examined.
Management in Healthcare: Theory and Practice (HML714)
Learners will acquire an increased understanding and knowledge of theories, tools and strategies for management in healthcare environments alongside an appreciation of their role within teams and complex systems. Learners will analyse, critique and reflect on real world scenarios to develop a confident and competent management approach to achieve personal and effectiveness in practice.
Optional modules
Organisation Development and Change (HML715)
This module complements the modules in management and leadership in healthcare and comprises an in-depth study of organisations in the 21st century with a focus on health and care. Critical study of the structures, values and cultures of organisations will be incorporated along with theory from established and contemporary OD literature. Diagnostic and consultancy models will be studied with a view to critical application in practice.
Contemporary Issues in Clinical Education (CLE713)
This module will explore current issues, drivers and challenges in undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing clinical education, and will draw widely on contemporary educational research and scholarship. You will be encouraged to reflect on your role as a clinical educator, and to investigate the impact of culture and policy on your practice.
Primary and Public Healthcare: Global Health (GH712)
This module will offer insights to the impact of the environment, culture, perceptions, health education and preventative health strategies to form the foundations of health and a functioning health care system.
Health in Humanitarian Emergencies (GH715)
This module explores the management models of healthcare provision in response to humanitarian emergencies, resulting from both natural and human-induced crises. By evaluating the history of the humanitarian movement and factors affecting the current delivery of national and international aid programmes, this modules aims to review potential strategies for implementing sustainable healthcare programmes in LMICs.

The modules shown for this course or programme are those being studied by current students, or expected new modules. Modules are subject to change depending on year of entry.

Every postgraduate taught course has a detailed programme specification document describing the programme aims, the programme structure, the teaching and learning methods, the learning outcomes and the rules of assessment.

The following programme specification represents the latest programme structure and may be subject to change:

PgCert MSc in Healthcare Management Leadership and Innovation programme specification_7469

Entry requirements

You will normally have a first degree BA/BSc (Hons) at 2:2 or above in a relevant subject e.g. (clinical or non-clinical) leadership, management, innovation or related topics.

Entrants who have acquired experience through work or other means that enables staff responsible for admissions to be confident of the candidate’s ability to succeed in the programme may also be considered, in line with QAA guidance.

Fees, costs and funding

All fees are published per 60 credits. A full PgCert comprises 60 credits.

Student	2024-25	2025-26
Home	£3,660	£3,780
International	£6,120	£6,800
Part time (Home)	£1,220 per 20 credit module	£1,260 per 20 credit module

Please note that fees are reviewed on an annual basis. Fees and the conditions that apply to them shown in the prospectus are correct at the time of going to print. Fees shown on the web are the most up to date but are still subject to change in exceptional circumstances.

Find out about funding your postgraduate studies with this helpful list of sources .

How to apply

Make sure you meet the entry requirements for this programme.

Before you apply
Make sure you have all your supporting documents. Documents required usually include:

Evidence of qualifications (degree certificates or transcripts), with translations if not in English, to show that you meet, or expect to meet the entry requirements
Evidence of English language proficiency, if English is not your first language
Personal statement of approximately 250-400 words about the reasons for your interest in this course and outlining what you expect to achieve by completing this programme.
Two academic/professional references, confirming your suitability for the course
Two passport photographs
Curriculum Vitae or résumé, including details of relevant professional/voluntary experience, professional registration/s and visa status for overseas workers
Proof of sponsorship, if applicable

When to apply
Applications for postgraduate programmes of study can usually be made throughout the year. When applying for a taught postgraduate programme, please check for any submission deadlines with the Medicine and Dentistry Admissions team (contact details below). For full-time programmes, you may be invited for interview.
Check the closing date and apply as early as possible as our programmes are popular.

Submitting an application
Once you are happy that you have all of the information required you can apply using our online postgraduate application form (the blue 'Apply' icon on this page).
Once you have registered and logged in, please enter the ‘course code’ which can be found above into the search bar to begin your application.
Additional guidance information can also be downloaded on how to fill in the postgraduate application form .

Admissions policy
More information and advice for applicants can be referenced in our online admissions policy for taught programmes. Prospective students are advised to read the policy before making an application to the University.

What happens after I apply?
If you would like any further information, please contact the Admissions and Course Enquiries team:

Telephone: +44 (0)1752 585858
Email: admissions@plymouth.ac.uk

You will normally receive a decision on your application within four weeks of us receiving your application. You may be asked to provide additional information, to take part in an interview (which in the case of overseas students may be by telephone or video conference) or you will be sent a decision by letter or email.

The University aims to make the application procedure as simple and efficient as possible. Our Admissions and Course Information team is on hand to offer help and can put you in touch with the appropriate faculty if you wish to discuss any programme in detail. The Doctoral College is also available to answer any queries on our postgraduate research degrees.

If you have a disability and would like further information about the support provided by the University of Plymouth, please visit our Additional support for students with an impairment, health condition or disability website.

Support is also available to overseas students applying to the University from our International Office .

Alumni case study: Dr Elizabeth Reilly

Dr Reilly returned to Plymouth to study a PGCert in Healthcare Management, Leadership and Innovation after our beautiful coastline lured her back to the region.

“Studying this course has given me greater confidence to take on more managerial roles as part of my Consultant Rheumatologist post in the future.

It will allow me to manage the team more effectively, and with greater knowledge of the wider hospital management teams and systems supporting our clinical practice. Plymouth prepared me for the challenges that I face.”