Specialist Community Public Health Nursing (Occupational Health Nursing) PGDip

This module develops leadership, management, and professional practice skills essential for working in complex health and care environments. You'll explore values, beliefs, self-awareness, and personal motivation through reflective practice, action learning, and personal development planning. Key leadership theories—such as compassionate, transformational, and situational approaches—are examined alongside the impact of policy, organisational culture, and service reorganisation. You'll gain tools for change management, cross-organisational working, and business case development, with a focus on economic and commissioning influences. The module also covers team leadership, partnership working, patient empowerment, cultural competence, conflict resolution, delegation, budgeting, and accountability—preparing you for effective leadership in healthcare settings.

Module content will include:

1. Frameworks of analysis, values, beliefs, attitudes, self-awareness, personal motivation, mind mapping and personal action planning, and developing a vision for future direction. Reflective practice. Sources of expertise in practice. Action learning techniques.  

1. Theories and models of leadership and management, including compassionate, situational, transformational and transactional leadership styles. The impact of reorganisation of services, including the influences of policy and organisational culture.  

1. Change management theory; tools for analysing to achieve specific developments innovations and improvements in organisational systems, or in the health and wellbeing of the population. Working across organisational boundaries; formulating business cases for service development; and economic influences on service provision including commissioning and service development.  

1. Patient/carer/service user participation models, advocacy, self-advocacy, self-efficacy, empowerment and partnership working. Leadership at the point of care, cultural competence and inclusivity.  

1. Team analysis across agencies and disciplines including team development, team leadership, team participation, and implementation of change relative to partnership working and health and wellbeing, team role analysis, business planning, investment, value for money, managing conflict in teams.  

1. Development of specific roles and responsibilities in practice including sustainability, accountability, delegation and conflict resolution techniques; time management; influencing and negotiating skills and conflict resolution with key stakeholders and agencies, budget management, staff discipline issues, investigating and managing complaints. 

This module provides a comprehensive foundation in public health theory and practice across the lifespan, focusing on population health and community wellbeing. You'll explore emerging public health themes, policies, and governance at local, national, and global levels, supported by epidemiology and demography to assess health needs and social determinants. Emphasis is placed on ethical, legal, and evidence-based frameworks that empower inclusive, person-centred care and health promotion. You'll develop skills in partnership working, community development, and safeguarding, while gaining specialist knowledge in social prescribing, genomics, and epigenetics. The module also covers infection control, vaccination, and managing public health incidents—preparing you for effective, community-focused practice.

Module content will include: 

• Underpinning theories and principles of public health across the lifespan, population health and the wellbeing of people and communities. Emerging public health themes, key policies, strategies and related governance requirements, including global and national policies and research. 
• Understanding epidemiology and demography. Specialist knowledge and application of epidemiological evidence at national and local policy levels, to include utilisation of data in the assessment and identification of need within social determinants of health across the lifespan. 
• Utilisation of professional, legal and ethical frameworks to empower individuals and communities to engage effectively with public health and health promotion initiatives promoting person centred inclusive care. Adopting an evidence base to underpin specialist community and public health nursing practice to support innovative approaches to influence people’s motivation, choices and behaviour to maximise their health potential.  
• Partnership roles. Understanding the unique contributions which specialist community nursing and public health nursing practice make to establishing and maintaining collaborative partnerships with people, families and communities.
• Understanding of how culturally responsive resources and community and strength-based assets support health and wellbeing. Application of specialist knowledge of social prescribing and commissioning. Identifying those who are vulnerable and taking action to support, safeguard and protect them. Understand and apply genomics and epigenetics in sufficient detail to inform the concept of health as a fundamental human right and a shared value. 
• Understanding how communities are developed and sustained in relation to their specialised characteristics and assets, and acknowledge their impact when planning preventative strategies to reduce inequalities within a diverse and multicultural society. Political and economic drivers in communities which impact upon resource allocation and health. Understanding how to assess, plan, implement and evaluate major incidents and outbreaks in population health. Infection prevention and control including immunisation and vaccination programmes.

The content of this module is designed to enable students to meet the needs of service users, carers and organisations in the 21st Century and to achieve the Nursing and Midwifery Council (2022) Standards of proficiency for specialist community public health nurses. The spheres of practice will be taught and assessed throughout the module and at the end of the programme and point of registration, the registered SCPHN will be proficient in all core and field proficiencies within the spheres. 

Sphere A: Autonomous SCPHN practice

Sphere B: Transforming specialist community public health nursing practice: evidence, research, evaluation and translation 

Sphere C: Promoting human rights and addressing inequalities: assessment, surveillance and intervention  

Sphere D: Population health: enabling, supporting and improving health outcomes of people across the life course 

Sphere E: Advancing public health services and promoting healthy places, environments  and cultures

Sphere F: Leading and collaborating: from investment to action and dissemination

This module equips you with the advanced knowledge and skills needed for autonomous practice as a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (SCPHN) in Occupational Health. You'll critically explore decision-making in complex environments, applying evidence-based approaches and emerging technologies to strengthen professional and community relationships. Key themes include tackling stigma and promoting equality, understanding global and national strategies, and examining theoretical models shaping SCPHN practice. You'll debate health risks, prioritise public health concerns, and apply strategies for prevention and early intervention. The module also covers leadership, ethical and legal responsibilities, medicines management, and enhanced communication—fostering collaborative, culturally competent, and accountable practice.

Module content will include:

Autonomous Practice and Decision Making: Critical exploration of autonomous practice in complex and unpredictable environments. Application of evidence-based approaches and exploration of new technologies to enhance positive workplace and community relationships. 

Impact and Strategies: Scrutiny of the impact of stigma, equality, and diversity on culturally competent professional practice. Identification of global and national socio-economic and political strategies to influence SCPHN Occupational Health practice.  

Advanced Theoretical Foundations: Deep-dive into complex theoretical models informing autonomous SCPHN practice in Occupational Health.  Critical analysis of historical perspectives and emerging trends. 

Risk Management and Health Promotion: Debate dealing with conflicting priorities, risk management and assessment. Delve into the prioritisation of public and national health concerns. Challenge environmental and socially constructed threats to health. Exploration of health improvement, health surveillance, prevention, and early intervention using public health and health promotion strategies. 

Leadership and Ethical Implications: The significance of leadership styles and organisational strategies required by Specialist Community Public Health Practitioners in various contexts and settings. Interpretation and application of national and local policies to practice. Debate and comprehend the commissioning of services, organisation of practice delivery, and legal & ethical implications, including empowerment, advocacy, equality & diversity, accountability, and confidentiality. Recognise the role of statutory bodies.  

Medicines Management: Appreciate the importance of medicines management with respect to administration, optimisation and reconciliation, and the positive impact of correct medicines management on people’s current and future health outcomes. 

Communication and Collaboration: Enhanced communication skills for personal growth and effective team management. Supporting continuous education within a positive learning culture. Foster collaboration with diverse stakeholders to address occupational health challenges. 

This module explores advanced therapeutic practice within occupational health, grounded in contemporary theory and shaped by wider socio-economic, legal, and ethical considerations. You'll examine safeguarding, risk management, and the impact of national and international policies on workplace health. Key content includes identifying occupational hazards, applying advanced risk assessment methods, and implementing evidence-based control strategies. You'll develop holistic, culturally competent approaches to workplace health, considering how work influences health and vice versa. The module also covers the design and delivery of health promotion and education programmes in occupational settings, while building leadership and interprofessional collaboration skills essential for integrated occupational health practice.

Module content will include:

1. Theories of therapeutic practice, definitions and concepts of contemporary development in occupational health, considering wider socio-economic concerns, including safeguarding and abuse, and risk management within international, national, and local policy frameworks.
2. Investigating the impact of relevant legislation, policies, and ethical practice in occupational health. Ensuring legal and ethical compliance in therapeutic interventions and risk management.
3. Identification of occupational health risks and hazards, the hierarchy of control, advanced risk assessment methods and implementation of evidence-based risk management strategies. Evaluation and assessment of strategies, personal and professional development.
4. Integration of holistic and culturally competent approaches to therapeutic interventions in the workplace considering the impact of work on health and health on work.
5. Implementation of health promotion programmes, and educational strategies within occupational settings.
6. Interprofessional collaboration and leadership in occupational health. Developing leadership skills for promoting a comprehensive and integrated approach to OH, Collaborative approaches with healthcare professionals, employers and stakeholders.

This module develops your ability to engage with evidence-based practice and data-driven decision-making to improve professional and clinical outcomes. You'll explore key research concepts, including formulating research questions, sampling, data validity, and the use of qualitative and quantitative methods. Various research designs—such as ethnography, surveys, and mixed methods—are introduced alongside practical data collection techniques like interviews, observation, and audits. Ethical and legal considerations, including data protection, confidentiality, and cultural competence, are emphasised throughout. You’ll also learn how to audit current practice, involve service users, and apply quality improvement models to drive innovation, evaluate services, and lead meaningful change in professional settings.

The module content will include:

• Data and professional practice: Evidence-based practice, benchmarking, audit, evaluation, practice development and quality improvement. 
• Key concepts and issues in social and behavioural research: Research topics and research questions, answering questions with data, validity and reliability of data, qualitative and quantitative data, description, exploration, finding connections, formulating and testing hypotheses, populations and sampling, cultural competence in research practice. Research traditions and designs: Ethnography, survey, experiment, mixed method, research process. 
• Gathering and analysing data: Observation, questionnaires, interviews, surveys, audits, psycho-biometrics. Data analysis and drawing conclusions. 
• Ethical and legal frameworks, constraints in specialist practice, data protection, confidentiality, human rights, cultural competence, Helsinki declaration.  
• Auditing current practice: Prioritisation, best practice standards, service and carer user involvement, collecting data, analysis and evaluation. 
• Quality Improvement: QI models; co-production with service users; community of practice; leadership; monitoring methods and techniques for dissemination.