School of Nursing and Midwifery

PgDip Community Nursing Specialist (District Nursing)

Programme code 7978
Duration

2 years

(with placements)
Course type

Full-time
Study location Plymouth
Register for open evening

This programme has been designed with close collaboration between key stakeholders including students, clinical representatives, academics and service users, families and carers. You will develop a critical understanding of the specialist role of the district nurse, by incorporating enhanced levels of professional autonomous practice, and awareness of social, political, and economic restraints in providing research based person-centred care.

Careers with this subject
District nurses make a meaningful impact every day on the lives of those they care for, whether visiting patients in their homes or in residential care settings. They deliver increasingly complex medical care and provide essential support to family members.
District nurses are responsible for assessing the healthcare needs of patients and their families, ensuring the quality of care provided, and being professionally accountable for its delivery. While patients can be of any age, many are elderly, recently discharged from the hospital, terminally ill, or living with physical disabilities.

Key features
  • Gain a deeper understanding of the role of the community nursing specialist nurse and critically examine the theory, practice and principles of community nursing specialist practice using an evidence-based approach to enable them to adapt and provide a wide range of nursing care in home and community-based settings.
  • Further expand professional autonomy continuing to work within legal, and ethical and professional accountability.
  • Develop enhanced critical thinking, critical reflection skills, and attain the authority to make clinical decisions and prescribe within the NMC (2022) (Nursing and Midwifery Council) standards of the community nursing (Specialist Practitioner Qualification (SPQ)) role.
  • Develop a critical understanding of the current issues that impact on health delivery in the community setting.
  • Utilising a person-centred approach, assess people’s abilities and needs and plan and co-produce a plan to manage care, developing specialised advanced skills and case-management of people with undifferentiated and complex conditions.
  • Demonstrate leadership in supporting and managing community nursing teams, coordinating care, and managing complex and dynamic community and/or practice caseloads.
  • Lead improvements in safety and quality of care by implementing quality processes, service evaluation and improvement methodology as well as working collaboratively as part of a wider heath care team.
  • Develop expertise in evaluating research theory and methodology, to enable the application of research to improve care and services for people and communities.

Course details

  • Year 1

  • This postgraduate diploma programme will be delivered over two years. Students will undertake timetabled, blended learning approximately or equivalent to 1 day a week and the remaining time will be undertaken in the work-based learning setting. Working in partnership with its stakeholders the university will support the student to meet the programme learning outcomes, to enable increasing independence and autonomy as a Community Nursing Specialist Practitioner.
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:

Programme Specification PgDip Community Nursing Specialist DN GPN 2024 25 7978

Entry requirements
To commence this programme, the applicant must be registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and must meet the University’s entry requirements for study at postgraduate level. Professional body registration must be maintained throughout the duration of the programme.
  • Applicants must be registered nurse (Level 1) and have a minimum of one year's post registration experience.
  • Applicants must be in salaried employment, normally working a minimum of 30 hours in a community nursing role demanding advanced specialist practice skills and knowledge and have the full agreement from their employer.
  • Applicants will normally have a relevant first degree, BSc (Hons) at 2:1 or above.
  • Applicants will be assessed individually for their ability to study at master's level and an interview will be necessary.
  • Applicants without a first degree, BSc (Hons) at 2:2 or above may be eligible to apply, if combined with appropriate practice related experience relevant to the programme and following submission of a written critical evaluation of specialist study or practice marked against the Level 6 criteria.
  • Applicants where English is not their first language must also provide evidence of competence in written and spoken English in accordance with the NMC criteria of an overall score of 7.0, with at least 6.5 in the writing section and at least 7 in the reading, listening, and speaking sections.
  • Applicants must hold at least a Level 2 qualification in English and Maths. Candidates that do not hold these qualifications will be required to complete them prior to starting the programme.
  • Due to the blended learning delivery model of the programme, it is an expectation that students will have access to wi-fi and relevant electronic devices that allow them to engage fully with all aspects of programme delivery, teaching, learning and assessment.
  • Applicants are required to identify a Practice Assessor and Practice Supervisor who meet the criteria (NMC, 2022 and 2023) and have undertaken preparation for the role. In addition, a Designated Prescribing Practitioner or Practice Assessor who holds the V300 qualification and meets the criteria.
  • Self-funding or self-employed applicants are required to identify a host placement (when applicable) for the duration of the programme (refer to Appendix 3 for self-funding applicants).
  • Short-listed applicants will attend an interview with representatives from practice partners and the programme academic team.

Fees, costs and funding
New student 2024-2025 2025-2026
Home £6,600 £6,800
International N/A N/A
Part time (Home) N/A N/A
Full time fees shown are per annum. Part time fees shown are per a number of credits. 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. More information about fees and funding.

Additional costs

This course is delivered by the School of Nursing and Midwifery and more details of any additional costs associated with our courses are listed on the following page: Additional costs for nursing and midwifery students .

How to apply
Applying for this programme
Please visit our PDU admissions homepage for full details on the application process and to download the relevant forms.
Please return your completed forms to:
Email: pduadmissions@plymouth.ac.uk
Professional Development Unit
4th floor, Rolle Building
University of Plymouth
Drake Circus
Plymouth, PL4 8AA
Tel: +44 1752 586951
What happens after I apply?
After your application is received by the PDU Admissions team, it will be processed and sent to the Programme Lead for a decision to be made on your suitability to study. You may be asked to provide additional information or to take part in an interview (for overseas students this may be by telephone or video conference). Once this decision has been made, you will be sent an email either confirming your place on the programme, or rejecting your application and giving the reasons for this decision (you may request further feedback in order to improve your chances of selection at a later date).
Please note that you will be enrolled on the full MSc programme. You may choose to exit with the qualification of PgCert upon completion of an appropriate 60 credits, or a PgDip upon completion of an appropriate 120 credits. More information is contained within the programme specification.
The deadline for the receipt of international applicationsis 31 May 2023 for entry in September 2023.

For applicants with disabilities
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 webpage.

Update: application process

Please note that there has been an update to the application process for our masters programmes.
Any part-time applications for programmes starting before September 2025 need to continue to use the Postgraduate Application Form and any additional information forms as required. Full details can be found on our admissions homepage .
Part-time applications for September 2025 and beyond need to apply online via the link on the relevant programme page.
Any full-time applications for programmes starting in September 2025 need to apply online via the link on the relevant programme page.
Applying for this programme
Please visit our PDU admissions homepage for full details on the application process and to download the relevant forms.
Please return your completed forms to:
Email: pduadmissions@plymouth.ac.uk
Professional Development Unit
4th floor, Rolle Building
University of Plymouth
Drake Circus
Plymouth, PL4 8AA
Tel: +44 (0)1752 586951

On successful completion you will have:

Developed a critical understanding of the specialist role of the district nurse, by incorporating enhanced levels of professional autonomous practice, and awareness of social, political, and economic restraints in providing research based person-centred care.
Knowledge and expertise to facilitate health promotion activities to meet the needs of the community, caseload, individuals, their families, and carers, promoting partnership working and developing self-management plans and working collaboratively with multiple agencies.
Enhanced your understanding of the wider determinants of health, health literacy, mental capacity and safeguarding and people-centred care which will be demonstrated through your analysis of advanced communication techniques between individuals, families, carers, and that of interdisciplinary and interagency environments.
Developed the underpinning knowledge and skills in advanced clinical assessment and history taking when working in patients’ home settings and to use risk assessment tools to identify changes in health status and to deliver coordinated care to patients who are deteriorating, palliative or end of life.
Critically explored and applied understanding of compassionate leadership and leadership theories, enabling others and managing teams, whilst promoting an open and transparent safety culture to facilitate quality improvement and initiatives in the context of district nursing and community nursing teams.
Developed expertise in critically evaluating research theory and methodology facilitating application of research to district nursing services and nursing in the home environment.

Lecturers

This programme is also available to study by apprenticeship route

Community Nursing Specialist Apprenticeship

The postgraduate apprenticeship route provides an alternative, flexible entry into the Postgraduate Diploma Community Nursing Specialist programme, enabling the apprentice to study for a work-integrated postgraduate qualification whilst remaining in salaried employment.
The programme is aimed at registered adult nurses with a minimum of one year's post registration experience who wish to develop their knowledge, skills and practice to perform in the role of Specialist Practitioner District Nurse awarded by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
Nurse in blue uniform takes blood pressure from elderly lady in a wheelchair