Nursing (Mental Health)
BSc (Hons)
UCAS code: B707
Start dates: September 2024 / September 2025
Full time: 3 years (or post-qualification: 15 - 24 months with individual credits)
Part time: 8 years maximum (limited part-time places available)
Location: Headington (Marston Road site)
Department(s): Oxford School of Nursing and Midwifery
Overview
Anxiety and depressive disorders. Obsessive-compulsive conditions. Substance-related problems. Mental health issues are soaring, with 1 in 4 people experiencing difficulties. Study Mental Health Nursing at Oxford Brookes to fuel your passion for improving lives. You can make a real difference – advocating for patients, helping them to overcome barriers and live their lives well.
Taught by a team of highly qualified and enthusiastic professionals, with experience ranging from research to clinical leadership, you’ll develop skills for a wide range of nursing careers. And build the confidence to meet a diverse range of mental health needs. You’ll also receive invaluable support from your course academic adviser.
No 2 days will be the same. With 50% of your time in university and 50% out on placements, you’ll put your knowledge into action in a variety of mental health settings. You'll hear from guest lecturers and those with lived experiences, and role play clinical situations in simulation-based learning. By the end, you’ll be ready to make a difference in your community and beyond.
Why Oxford Brookes University?
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Unbeatable opportunities
Develop your skills with one or two mental health placements a year in a variety of settings, from children and young people to older adults, crisis intervention to rehabilitation.
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Home to experts
Taught by highly experienced and enthusiastic research-active nurse academics, with a variety of mental health specialisms, your course will be informed by the latest developments in the field.
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Enviable partnerships
Apply your knowledge and skills and expand your networks in NHS Trusts in various locations – not just in Oxfordshire, but in Wiltshire, Berkshire and beyond.
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Be at the cutting edge
We work closely with Oxford Health to develop interprofessional simulations, being 1 of only 19 universities that are accredited to offer this exciting facility.
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Diverse classes
Study alongside our MSc Nursing (Mental Health) students, and learn from the breadth of differing experiences and valuable discussions.
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Free language courses
Free language courses are available to full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students on many of our courses, and can be taken as a credit on some courses.
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Accreditation(s)
Approved by Nursing and Midwifery Council
Course details
Course structure
With a strong practical focus, this course allows you to practise the hands-on tasks you'll perform in your career. You’ll apply theory to practice with half your time spent on placements in a variety of mental health settings with our established partners.
You'll also have the opportunity to learn from people with lived experience of mental health challenges. With regular access to outstanding facilities including our state-of-the-art simulation suite, you'll be able to develop your clinical expertise in a safe environment.
Focusing on communities, health and wellbeing in Year 1, nursing interventions in Year 2, and complex care in Year 3, you’ll increase your specialist knowledge as the course progresses. Your dissertation will also give you the chance to explore an area that interests you, whether that’s therapeutic relationships, promoting mental health, or caring for people with complex mental health needs.
You’ll be supported by passionate, highly qualified practitioners, available for advice whether you’re studying or out on placement.
Study modules
Please note: As our courses are reviewed regularly as part of our quality assurance framework, the modules you can choose from may vary from those shown here. The structure of the course may also mean some modules are not available to you.
Careers
When you register as a mental health nurse, you’ll be well prepared to work as a band 5 staff nurse in a range of settings.
Perhaps you’re interested in working in NHS hospital wards such as psychiatric and specialist units. Or community settings such as GP surgeries, schools and prisons. Maybe you fancy a different path working for a mental health charity or as a mental health nurse in the armed forces. With more demand for mental health nurses than ever before, you’ll find your options are varied.
And with an excellent track record of employability, you could soon be looking for postgraduate qualifications. You could take your career even further with advanced clinical practice, research, nurse education or management.
Entry requirements
Wherever possible we make our conditional offers using the UCAS Tariff. The combination of A-level grades listed here would be just one way of achieving the UCAS Tariff points for this course.
Standard offer
UCAS Tariff Points: 104
A Level: BCC
IB Points: 29
BTEC: DMM
Contextual offer
UCAS Tariff Points: 88
A Level: CCD
IB Points: 27
BTEC: MMM
Specific entry requirements
A Level: Including one A Level or a comparable Level 3 qualification in a science subject (e.g. Physical Education, Biology, Chemistry, Maths, Physics, Psychology).
GCSE: Grade 4 (C) in English, Maths and Science. For English and Maths, Level 2 Functional Skills are accepted as alternatives to GCSEs.
Relevant experience (e.g. in a hospital) or a suitable indication of your interest in, and understanding of, the relevant healthcare profession.
For post-experience BSc:
- NMC registration parts 1, 5, 8, 12, 14 or 15.
- A secondment to the course may be possible for adult, learning disability and children's nurses working for the local NHS Trusts or the armed forces.
- Applicants need to have been working in an NHS clinical area that gives them experience of clients with mental health needs for at least six months before enrolling on the course.
Please also see the University's general entry requirements.
Screening
All applicants will be screened for fitness to practise and a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check will be made.
Selection process
All Oxford Brookes University Health and Social Care Programmes conduct Value Based Recruitment (VBR). We recognise that values and attitudes have the greatest impact on the quality of people's care and their experiences.
VBR is a way of helping our Programme recruitment teams to assess the values, motives and attitudes of those who wish to work with people in health and social care settings. When we refer to values we mean, for example, the values included in the NHS constitution.
VBR focuses on 'how' and 'why' an applicant makes choices in how they act and seeks to explore reasons for their behaviour. Further details about the VBR framework can be found here.
Prospective students will be interviewed by representatives from both the University and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. In addition, service users may also be in attendance.
English language requirements
An IELTS score of 6.5 in all areas is required for ALL applicants whose first language is not English.
Please also see the University's standard English language requirements.
English requirements for visas
If you need a student visa to enter the UK you will need to meet the UK Visas and Immigration minimum language requirements as well as the University's requirements. Find out more about English language requirements.
Credit transfer
Many of our courses consider applications for entry part-way through the course for students who have credit from previous learning or relevant professional experience.
Find out more about transferring to Brookes. If you'd like to talk through your options, please contact our Admissions team.
Terms and Conditions of Enrolment
When you accept our offer, you agree to the Terms and Conditions of Enrolment. You should therefore read those conditions before accepting the offer.
International qualifications and equivalences
How to apply
Application process
Full time international applicants can also apply through UCAS
Tuition fees
Questions about fees?
Contact Student Finance on:
Tuition fees
Please note, tuition fees for Home students may increase in subsequent years both for new and continuing students in line with an inflationary amount determined by government. Oxford Brookes University intends to maintain its fees for new and returning Home students at the maximum permitted level.
Tuition fees for International students may increase in subsequent years both for new and continuing students.
The following factors will be taken into account by the University when it is setting the annual fees: inflationary measures such as the retail price indices, projected increases in University costs, changes in the level of funding received from Government sources, admissions statistics and access considerations including the availability of student support.
How and when to pay
Tuition fee instalments for the semester are due by the Monday of week 1 of each semester. Students are not liable for full fees for that semester if they leave before week 4. If the leaving date is after week 4, full fees for the semester are payable.
- For information on payment methods please see our Make a Payment page.
- For information about refunds please visit our Refund policy page
Financial support and scholarships
All eligible nursing students on courses from September 2020 (new and continuing) will receive a payment of at least £5,000 a year which they will not need to pay back. For more information please visit NHS Learning Support Fund (LSF).
Additional costs
Please be aware that some courses will involve some additional costs that are not covered by your fees. Specific additional costs for this course are detailed below.
Please be aware that some courses will involve some additional costs that are not covered by your fees. Specific additional costs for this course are detailed below.
Addtional costs for this course are as follows:
- Books and other learning resources
- Exchanges
- Library loans and fees
- Living costs at university
- Graduation
- Photocopying and printing of posters
- Travel to and from placement (if eligible can apply for reimbursement via NHS learning support fund)
- Shoes for practice
- Equipment for practice and suitable non clinical clothing for placements.
This list is not exhaustive and other course-specific costs may be incurred.
For the most up-to-date information on additional costs, please keep checking the website as we will update this as further information becomes available.
Information from Discover Uni
Full-time study
Part-time study
Programme changes:
On rare occasions we may need to make changes to our course programmes after they have been
published on the website. For more information, please visit our
changes to programmes page.