• Postgraduate

Person-Centred Health and Social Care MSc

Overview

Overview

Are you a graduate or practitioner in the field of health and social care?

Suitable for those working in a wide range of professional areas and disciplines, this postgraduate course has been designed to help you respond to the growing need to integrate health and social aspects of care.

As current management approaches give way to a more person-centred approach to care, our course will equip you with the up-to-date knowledge and skills you need to contribute to improving provision in this changing environment.

The innovative postgraduate course, which can be studied on a full-time or part-time basis, is delivered through a series of online weekend workshops.

A nurse talks to an elderly patient

Select your desired study option, then pick a start date to see relevant course information:

Study options:
We support flexible study by offering some of our courses part-time or via distance learning. To give you real world experience before you graduate, we also offer some courses with a placement or internship. All available options are listed here. Your choices may affect some details of your course, such as the duration and cost per year. Please re-check the details on this page if you change your selection.

Start date:

If your desired start date is not available, try selecting a different study option.

Why study Person-Centred Health and Social Care with us?

Why study Person-Centred Health and Social Care with us?

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What our students say…

It's such a great course with amazing content - far more beneficial and interesting than any other masters running currently!

Danielle Fieller
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Industry focused teaching
study full time or part time
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Course detail & modules

Course detail & modules

The last decade has brought with it an increasing recognition that chronically ill patients need more comprehensive forms of assistance, mandating a need to move away from current approaches to the management of these conditions towards newer models of care that are personalised, integrated and contextualised. 

These newer, person-centred approaches to care offer affordable biomedical and technological advances to continue to be delivered to patients on the basis of objective clinical assessment, but within a humanistic framework that strives to understand their subjective experience of illness.

You have the opportunity to be trained to research problems from your own practice and enabled to find innovative solutions; to critically engage with, evaluate and synthesise the evidence and research to promote the development and enhancement of person-centred culture and practice.

How is this course taught?

The course is delivered online, through a series of weekend workshops. Full-time students will attend one workshop per month for the taught modules. The workshops typically run from 12:30pm on Friday until 6pm on Saturday.  They are intensive and include sessions running throughout the day (with breaks for refreshments/time out). 

Students will have scheduled activities (including watching and responding to a recorded video) in advance of the workshops, and follow-up exercises to complete afterwards, that will contribute to their assessments. They will also be able to negotiate support sessions to meet with the module tutors, to discuss their progress towards completing the assignments, and will be invited to participate in some online sessions with other students in the weeks following the weekend workshops.  (The flexible nature of these arrangements is intended to help students working on the masters while in full-time employment.) 

There are two workshops associated with the first taught module (which provides twice the credit) and one workshop for every other taught module.  After the final taught workshop in March, students can focus on the dissertation.  This will involve both mandatory supervision sessions with the dissertation supervisor and negotiated online meetings with other students to share ideas and discuss progress. 

Part-time students attend the same workshops as full-time students, but do four modules in the first year and the remaining taught module, plus the dissertation, in the second year. 

All modules are available as a stand-alone option and you can apply and find more information about these modules from our CPD list.

Flexible options

If you do not wish to complete the full master’s qualification, you can opt for:

  • a Postgraduate Diploma
  • a Postgraduate Certificate 
  • individual module pathways.

Compulsory modules

  • Theory and Practice of Person-Centred Health and Social Care

    You will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to enable you to develop and apply current thinking about person-centred care, social care, health and well-being to your own practice, locating problems in your own practice in the context of a broader debate about health and social care.

  • Health and Well-being

    You will be equipped with knowledge of the developments and discussions that frame current thinking about the nature and value of health and social care. You will gain skills to engage with the latest research on person-centred care, social care, health and well-being and be able to apply these ideas to your own practice.

  • Implementation and Change: Leadership and Shared Decision-Making

    You will be equipped with an understanding of current debates about guidelines, shared decision-making and leadership, and be empowered to act as creative professionals, to develop and apply current thinking about person-centred health and social care to the problems of your own practice.

    Apply for this module or read more about Implementation and Change: Leadership and Shared Decision-Making.

  • Person-Centred Mental Health Care

    You will be equipped with an understanding of historical and on-going debates about the nature of mental health, personhood, authenticity, volition and their implications for pressing problems in mental health care, to develop and apply current thinking about person-centred health and social care to the problems of your own practice.

  • Research Methods

    You will be equipped with a wide range of knowledge and skills in the various types of research methods and data analyses of importance to person-centred health and social care investigations and evaluations.

    By applying and developing current thinking on person-centred care in your practice and institutions, the module will facilitate the generation of new knowledge on the most effective approaches to providing person-centred care and how to embed such novel insights into extant health and social care systems.

     

  • Dissertation

    You will develop the necessary skills to undertake an independent piece of research appropriate to your area of practice, considering what adopting a person-centred approach would mean with reference to the specific problem you are analysing. This will involve applying the core skills of critical analysis and reflection to your own professional and personal experience and to the theoretical concepts and empirical evidence you have encountered in the course of your studies, to understand and discover creative solutions to the problems of practice.  

    You will develop the ability to search and critically analyse and synthesise the literature, use appropriate research designs and methods of analysis, establish, sustain and conclude arguments, and demonstrate excellence in written communication skills.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements

You must have an undergraduate degree or equivalent professional qualification. We particularly welcome your application if:

  • you are a qualified practitioner in a relevant field, such as nursing, midwifery, medicine, social work or psychiatry
  • you have extensive experience of primary / secondary healthcare settings.

We look for students who show enthusiasm and a passion for the subject through previous study or professional experience.

If you have any questions about the relevance of your qualifications or experience please contact the course leader shown in the teaching staff.

6.5 IELTS or above

You need to meet our English language requirement of 6.5 overall score for IELTS, with a minimum of 5.5 for each of the 4 individual components (Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening). Visit our English language requirements page for information on other English language tests we accept.

You also need academic qualifications at the same level as UK applicants. In some countries where teaching is in English, we may accept local qualifications. Check for local equivalents.

We offer pre-sessional English language courses if you do not meet these requirements. Find out more about our English Language courses.

We look for students who show enthusiasm and a passion for the subject through previous study or professional experience.

If you have any questions about the relevance of your qualifications or experience please contact the course leader shown in the teaching staff.

Fees & funding

Fees & funding

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To help with paying your fees, you have the option of paying in three instalments. More about paying fees.

Please note:

  • Fees for the 2026/27 academic year and onwards may be subject to Government regulation and change.
  • Tuition fees are charged for each year of your course. If your course runs for two years or more, you will need to pay the fee for each academic year at the start of that year.
  • If your course runs for less than two years, the cost above is for your full course and you will need to pay the full fee upfront.
  • If no fee is shown above then the fees for this course are not available yet. Please check again later for updates.

Funding your studies

A range of loans, bursaries and scholarships are available to help you fund your studies.

If you are studying a Masters course you may be eligible to apply for a Postgraduate Loan, this may help contribute towards your course fees and living costs.

Additional funding is available to some types of students, such as disabled students. 

Within the university, we offer a range of scholarships and bursaries. View full details including conditions and eligibility.

Help with funding
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To help with paying your fees, you have the option of paying in three instalments. More about paying fees.

Please note:

  • Fees for the 2026/27 academic year and onwards may be subject to Government regulation and change.
  • Tuition fees are charged for each year of your course. If your course runs for two years or more, you will need to pay the fee for each academic year at the start of that year.
  • If your course runs for less than two years, the cost above is for your full course and you will need to pay the full fee upfront.
  • If no fee is shown above then the fees for this course are not available yet. Please check again later for updates.

International students - funding your studies

We offer scholarships for international students including International Ambassador Scholarships. 

Further information about funding and financial support for international students is available from the UK Council for International Student Affairs.

 

Financial support for international students
Teaching staff

Teaching staff

Michael Loughlin

Professor Michael Loughlin

Michael Loughlin is a Professor in Applied Philosophy and Director of the University of West London's European Institute for Person-Centred Health and Social Care. He is Course Leader for the MSc in Person-Centred Health and Social Care. He is also an Academic Visitor at the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Oxford Medical School.

He has written extensively on the relationship between knowledge, science and value in clinical practice, applying arguments developed in his PhD (on the relationship between epistemology and ethics) and early publications in philosophy to analyse the nature and role of rationality, evidence, judgement and intuition in medicine and health care.

His early work (including a 2002 book, Ethics, Management and Mythology) raised methodological questions about quality measures, bioethics and the use of evidence in health policy. He has written many articles in academic journals and popular media and addressed international audiences of practitioners and policy-makers on evidence-based practice and person-centred care. He has co-authored policy documents and advised professional groups on the philosophical education of practitioners.  In 2014 he was elected a Distinguished Fellow of the European Society for Person Centered Healthcare and awarded the Senior Vice President's Medal for Excellence, for his foundational work in the Philosophy of Person-Centred Care.

As Associate Editor of the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, he has edited several special issues on philosophical aspects of health care.  He is the editor of Debates in Values-based Practice: Arguments for and Against (Cambridge University Press, 2014). His recent work on medical epistemology has raised questions about scientism and moral realism, defending a humanistic conception of rationality and science in practice. In 2020 he was appointed Project Director of the Literature Database Programme, at the Collaborating Centre for Values-based Practice, St Catherine's College, University of Oxford.

His most recent book, published in 2023, is The Philosophy of Person-Centred Healthcare, co-authored with the philosopher and patient advocate Dr Derek Mitchell and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

In 2024, he was appointed the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice.

Michael Loughlin is a Professor in Applied Philosophy and Director of the University of West London's European Institute for Person-Centred Health and Social Care. He is Course Leader for the MSc in Person-Centred Health and Social Care. He is also an Academic Visitor at the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Oxford Medical School.

He has written extensively on the relationship between knowledge, science and value in clinical practice, applying arguments developed in his PhD (on the relationship between epistemology and ethics) and early publications in philosophy to analyse the nature and role of rationality, evidence, judgement and intuition in medicine and health care.

His early work (including a 2002 book, Ethics, Management and Mythology) raised methodological questions about quality measures, bioethics and the use of evidence in health policy. He has written many articles in academic journals and popular media and addressed international audiences of practitioners and policy-makers on evidence-based practice and person-centred care. He has co-authored policy documents and advised professional groups on the philosophical education of practitioners.  In 2014 he was elected a Distinguished Fellow of the European Society for Person Centered Healthcare and awarded the Senior Vice President's Medal for Excellence, for his foundational work in the Philosophy of Person-Centred Care.

As Associate Editor of the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, he has edited several special issues on philosophical aspects of health care.  He is the editor of Debates in Values-based Practice: Arguments for and Against (Cambridge University Press, 2014). His recent work on medical epistemology has raised questions about scientism and moral realism, defending a humanistic conception of rationality and science in practice. In 2020 he was appointed Project Director of the Literature Database Programme, at the Collaborating Centre for Values-based Practice, St Catherine's College, University of Oxford.

His most recent book, published in 2023, is The Philosophy of Person-Centred Healthcare, co-authored with the philosopher and patient advocate Dr Derek Mitchell and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

In 2024, he was appointed the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice.

Study & career progression

Study & career progression

A doctor in a suit talking to two nurses and showing them something on a tablet

After successfully completing this course, your options could include progressing in your career sector such as:

  • medicine
  • allied healthcare
  • nursing
  • mental health
  • health management
  • social work
  • public health.

Additionally, you could begin working as a researcher or as an adviser to academic, health or policy-making organisations.

Alternatively, you could continue on to a PhD. Find out more about our research activities and support for PhD and Professional Doctorate students.

How to apply

How to apply

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Important notes for applicants

Disclaimer

*Modern universities - defined as higher education institutions that were granted university status in, and subsequent to, 1992.

**The National Student Survey 2023 and 2024 - Average of answers to all questions by registered student population. Excludes specialist institutions.

Testimonials - our students or former students provided all of our testimonials - often a student from the course but sometimes another student. For example, the testimonial often comes from another UWL student when the course is new.

Optional modules - where optional modules are offered they will run subject to staff availability and viable student numbers opting to take the module.

Videos - all videos on our course pages were accurate at the time of filming. In some cases a new Course Leader has joined the University since the video was filmed.

Availability of placements - if you choose a course with placement/internship route we would like to advise you that if a placement/internship opportunity does not arise when you are expected to undertake the placement then the University will automatically transfer you to the non-internship route, this is to ensure you are still successful in being awarded a degree.