Palliative Care

Overview

The Postgraduate Diploma in Palliative Care was developed to provide a way to address the training needs of social workers involved in delivering care to people living with life-limiting or life-threatening illness and supporting informal caregivers both pre and post bereavement.



This course will be of interest to qualified social workers who are either working in generalist or specialist palliative care with adults. It may also be of interest to social workers learning or physical disability with adults, primary care, mental health, community mental health team for older people, older peoples’ services, hospital social work posts or hard to reach populations (i.e. prison service, homelessness or addiction services) or who have people with palliative care needs on their caseload.



Online delivery will enable social workers across different countries, service user groups and settings, to apply.



The Postgraduate Diploma in Palliative Care is aligned to the Specialist Award in Social Work via the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC), meeting all nine requirements.



This programme will not be suitable for sponsored visa students to attend. It is an online part time programme and international students may study this in their home countries.

Year 1

Core Modules

• Enhanced assessment, care planning and communication in palliative care (20 credits)

• Ethics and Law in Palliative Care (20 credits)

• Identifying and appraising evidence to inform practice and developing research (0 credits)

• Care planning and intervention in palliative care (20 credits)

• Evidence informed practice and leadership (20 credits)

• Principles of palliative care and illness (20 credits)



Course Structure

Students may enrol on a part-time basis only. Modules are delivered online in blocks of four days every two weeks.



The Postgraduate Diploma is awarded to students who successfully complete six taught modules (120 CATS points).



An exit qualification is available: students may exit with a Postgraduate Certificate by successfully completing 60 CATS points from taught modules.

Graduate

Applicants must hold a Bachelor Honours Degree in Social Work or equivalent qualification acceptable to the University, or Master’s Degree in Social Work (min 60% pass mark) or equivalent qualification acceptable to the University, Post-Graduate Diploma in Social Work or equivalent qualification acceptable to the University, a Certificate in Social Service (CSS), or a Certificate of Qualification in Social Work (CQSW).



Applicants must:

- Be registered with the NISCC, CORU or appropriate professional social work registration body.



- Have at least three years post qualifying social work experience or two year’s experience in addition to the Assessed Year in Employment (NI applicants) by the date of commencement of the programme.



- Be employed in a social work post that includes working with people who have palliative care needs.



Application for Recognition of Prior Learning is not applicable to this programme.



Technical Requirements: A requirement for registration is that participants are computer literate and have reliable internet access and access to a computer, which will be assessed at interview.

The course is open for applications on alternate years and next intake is 2025/26.



How to Apply

Apply using our online Postgraduate Applications Portal and follow the step-by-step instructions on how to apply.

2 years (Part Time).



Teaching Times

There will be 4 days of teaching per module (alternate Wednesdays). 28 hours directed learning and 172 self-directed learning per module (200 effort hours per module).

Please note: This course is currently not open for applications for 2024/25 academic year. The course is open for applications on alternate years and next intake is 2025/26.

Career Prospects

Introduction

The Postgraduate Diploma in Palliative Care is aligned to the Specialist Award in Social Work via the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC), meeting all nine requirements.