Postgraduate Taught

For those in clinical practice, an appreciation of leadership and management skills in the health care setting is increasingly important. This award is focused on developing the knowledge, skills and values to enable you to practice more confidently and to become an effective clinical leader, if you so wish. The three modules have been designed specifically to enable you to think creatively and to challenge how healthcare services are currently delivered.

Modules 1 and 3 utilise a mix of teaching methods, including face to face lectures, small group discussion, case studies and on-line learning through the Keele Learning Environment (KLE).

Module 2 is an independent, practice based study, conducted in your own work environment and supported by a trust based supervisor. We encourage our students to consider publication of their findings if appropriate.

By the end of your programme, you will:

- be better informed about healthcare policy and the operation of the service after the Health and Social Care Act is implemented
- understand how the NHS is funded and the key issues around the new commissioning arrangements
- understand how organisations work and the challenges involved in leading and managing clever people
- have acquired a range of leadership skills, through both study of the theory and by applying these concepts in practice during the second and third modules of the programme
- have had the opportunity to study an element of healthcare practice in depth, through your choice of the third module.

You will need to be a healthcare professional in active practice or healthcare leadership role to apply for this award.

Three modules over a minimum of one year, as follows:

Module 1: Health Service Leadership and Management (15 credits)

This module will provide the foundation to the award and in it we will explore the theoretical background to leadership and management including self awareness and people skills. The effect of recent policy initiatives including the new White Paper – Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS will be considered. How the NHS organisation might work following implementation of the Health & Social Care Bill will be critical to this module.

Assessment by 3000 word essay.

Module 2: Independent Practice Based Service Improvement Project (30 credits)

This module is a portfolio assessment of a workplace based project. You will negotiate with a personal tutor to draw up a personalised action plan and a programme of activity to design, carry out and evaluate a leadership project with direct impact on service redesign or patient care in your workplace.

Assessment by personal portfolio including a project report.

Module 3: A choice of one of the following options:- Medical Education (15 credits)

Much of a doctor’s professional life is concerned with facilitating the learning of junior medical staff, as well as contributing to the education of other health professionals and patients. This module starts with a teaching the teachers course (which you may have already completed) and continues with a virtual learning environment online to enable you to study at a time and place more convenient to you, so that no further attendance is required.

Assessment by observation and reflection on teaching practice.

Contemporary Challenges in Healthcare Ethics and Law (15 credits)

In this module students will gain a high quality introduction to ethical and legal issues in healthcare and the knowledge and skills to enable further work on the subject.

Assessment by case based discussion.

Clinical Audit (15 credits)

This module considers what constitutes robust clinical audit (at both strategy, programme and project level) and explores the value of clinical audit at all levels of an organisation – locating this within the wider quality framework for an organisation or team. The module also provides an opportunity for students to critically review the key stages within the clinical audit cycle, develop their skills in planning and undertaking audits and identify the key challenges involved in managing clinical audit projects and programmes.

Assessment by online case review and 3000 word essay.

Clinical Effectiveness (15 credits)

This module aims to familiarise students with the methods and processes of critical evaluation of the professional literature and how this may be applied clinically and as a selflearning model.

Assessment by production of a completed Critically Appraised Topic (‘CAT’).