Bachelor of Nursing (Mental Health) Autumn Intake (BN)

Why study this course

Mental health nursing is a diverse, challenging and rewarding career with people at its heart. Validated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) our programme provides you with the skills and knowledge to become a registered Mental Health Nurse within 3 years and offers you the opportunity to make a real difference to people’s lives.

You will offer help and support to people of all ages, their families and carers. The role is diverse, and care can be offered in a variety of situations including hospitals, homes and community settings. Whilst a key role of the mental health nurse is to form therapeutic relationships it is important that you are also able to use effective communication strategies to demonstrate compassionate, creative and critical mental health care that focuses on recovery.

The programme content emphasises the holistic components of individual mental health recovery, acknowledging the importance of maintaining health and the wider psychological and social impacts of personal wellbeing.

You will specialise in mental health nursing from the start of the programme, with an integrated learning strategy meaning you will also study alongside students of other fields. Sharing your ideas between disciplines will broaden your perspective on health care and help to sharpen your focus on your own field. Inter-professional learning (IPE) is a key component of the programme.

We have a highly equipped Clinical Simulation Suite which enables you to learn in a realistic ward, community, home and emergency simulations, meaning you can safely practice and develop essential skills to develop your confidence before going into placement. We also have dedicated mental health communication booths where you can develop your practical skills.

You will spend 50% of your time in clinical practice, working alongside experienced practice supervisors in hospitals, community and other specialist mental health care team provisions. A varied placement experience undertaken across the three years of the programme will allow you to integrate academic theory with clinical practice and gain insight into the wide-ranging employment opportunities available to you upon qualification. Our clinical placements reflect the work of the mental health nurse in supporting people from all age groups when they experience the impact of mental health problems.

You will be taught by motivated and knowledgeable lecturers in the field of mental health nursing who are influencing healthcare across Wales and beyond through engagement and research. This is demonstrated by our School receiving 1st place in the UK for research environment in the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF). You will be allocated both a personal tutor who will offer you pastoral support and an academic assessor who will support your professional development during the programme.

On successful completion of the programme you will be eligible to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) as a Mental Health Nurse. With this registration, you can work in a range of healthcare settings, both in the United Kingdom and abroad and join the nursing workforce of the future.

Above all else, we strive to ensure that you are ready for the next step in your career and the many opportunities that await you. That’s why 100%* of our nursing students are in employment or further study after 6 months of graduating (*DHLE and HECSU).

Accreditations

• Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)

Careers and placements

Career prospects

The career options for mental health nurses are varied and plentiful.

Mental health nurses are usually based in hospitals or in the community, as this is where the majority of mental healthcare is offered. If you work in a residential setting, you may do shifts and provide 24-hour care.

Within a hospital you might work in a psychiatric intensive care unit, a psychiatric ward, an outpatients unit or a specialist unit dealing with eating disorders.

In the community you could work at a GP surgery, prison, community health care centre, residential centre or in patients’ own homes.

As a School of Healthcare Sciences we are proud that 100% of our mental health nursing graduates are in employment and/or further study six months after graduating (UNISTATS).

Types of Jobs:

• Mental Health nurse - promoting and supporting a person’s recovery and enabling them to have more involvement and control over their condition, you’ll play a vital role in a multi-disciplinary team in a community or hospital setting.

• Advanced nurse practitioner – a role for nurses who have done extra training and academic qualifications to be able to examine, assess, make diagnoses, treat, prescribe and make referrals for patients.

• Research nurse - crucial to delivering research. You’ll provide and deliver high quality patient care, deal with data collection, follow-ups, patient groups and industry.

• Ward manager – you’ll provide leadership and visibility at ward level important to the delivery of safe, high-quality care to patients.

• Consultant nurse – you’ll ensure that nurse departments are following legal constraints and protocol.

• Lecturer - becoming a nurse lecturer could offer you the opportunity to make sure the next generation of nurses are competent and confident in the practice setting.

Placements

All nursing students must complete a minimum of 2,300 hours of supervised and appropriately assessed clinical practice at the end of the programme (NMC 2018).  The programme includes 7 blocks of full-time placements which will enable you to apply and build upon the theoretical knowledge and practical skills you will have acquired in the academic setting.

The development of your inter-professional team-working skills, leadership of care and staff will be a key focus of placement learning across the three years.  Our placement providers are primarily situated in health and social care settings across South East Wales, although students may also have an opportunity to pursue non-traditional placements in the private and third sectors. During the scheduled placement period in year 2 there will be an opportunity for you to arrange a self-funded Placement Opportunity Local or Overseas (POLO).