Everything you need to know...
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What is the fee?
Home: £3,650 for the course
International/EU: £3,720 per 60 credits -
How long will I study?
1 Year
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Where will I study?
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When do I start?
September 2026
January 2027
Course summary
- Join a synchronous online programme of innovative learning experiences.
- Gain advanced leadership skills for complex health and social care contexts.
- Lead strategically to improve services at system and organisational levels.
- Apply evidence and theory to real-world leadership challenges.
- Build confidence to influence change and drive service transformation.
This PGDip in Health and Social Care Leadership equips you with the strategic insight, practical tools, and critical understanding to lead complex and continually evolving care systems. You’ll explore leadership theory, service improvement, organisational development, and the wider socio‑political context of care. You can progress through flexible pathways from PG Certificate to PG Diploma to MSc.
How you learn
Our leadership programmes prepare professionals to tackle real‑world challenges, learn collaboratively across disciplines, think critically and reflectively, and thrive in a learning environment that’s both supportive and empowering.
You’ll learn through live lectures, interactive seminars, collaborative discussions, digital resources and real-world assignments. You’ll also complete a significant amount of self-directed study – identifying your leadership strengths, values, preferences and development needs through diagnostic tools.
We value creativity, inclusive practice and cross-sector collaboration, so you’ll learn alongside national and international colleagues across health and social care. You’ll also benefit from interdisciplinary modules and shared learning with other postgraduate programmes at Sheffield Hallam University.
You learn through:
- synchronous online delivery
- real-world exploration of work-based change and innovation
- digital whiteboards and real-time polling
- collaborative leadership exercises and peer engagement
- research-informed practice
- guest speakers, academics and experienced leaders
- workshops and group work
- independent study
- weekly (recorded) online live tutorials
- constructive feedback and reflection
- self-directed learning
Key themes
This is a comprehensive, practice-led programme to prepare you to make a significant impact within your organisation.
You’ll begin by deepening self-awareness and team leadership skills, exploring how personal values, behaviours and emotional intelligence influence leadership effectiveness. Through interactive learning and real-world assignments, you’ll apply evidence and theory to challenges within your own professional context, ensuring your learning is relevant and immediately applicable.
Building on these foundations, the diploma introduces strategies for leading change initiatives with confidence. You’ll critically examine the socio-political, economic and environmental factors shaping health and social care – gaining insight into how these influence leadership decisions at organisational and system levels.
You’ll also challenge your thinking with content from diverse authors and thought leaders – including John Amaechi and Nova Reid – while encouraging critical analysis and reflection on your leadership practice. By engaging with current research and best practice, you’ll learn to evaluate leadership approaches and propose evidence-based, ethical solutions to complex problems.
Course-level support
You’ll be supported in your learning journey through a number of key areas, such as:
- access to experienced lecturers and technical experts
- peer collaboration within a multidisciplinary cohort
- access to our Skills Centre for academic writing and study development
Applied learning
Live projects
You’ll engage in work-based projects or real-world projects set by external organisations. These experiences allow you to apply leadership principles to service improvement, manage change initiatives, and demonstrate decision-making in complex health and social care environments.
Example projects include a critical analysis of your own leadership practice, and leading change during periods of turbulence, uncertainty and organisational pressure. These aim to strengthen teams, tackle organisational challenges and enhance outcomes for service users.
You’ll also take part in interactive simulations – where students lead a service redesign, implement a new pathway or introduce a digital tool – managing resistance, stakeholders and organisational dynamics. These are opportunities to practice leadership, develop problem-solving skills and apply strategic thinking to real-world challenges.
Networking opportunities
You’ll have online opportunities to build leadership networks, share best practices and engage in strategic discussions. You’ll be able to collaborate by sharing real-world experiences as change agents in health and social care – contributing to a rich, peer-supported learning environment.
Course leaders and tutors
Anita McCrum
Senior Lecturer in Leadership, MSc Health and Social Care Leadership Course LeaderAnita's background is in adult nursing, community nursing and health visiting. She worked for many years as a frontline Health Visitor, then supporting students und … Read more
Modules studied may differ depending on when you start your course.
Modules
Module and assessment information for future years is displayed as currently validated and may be liable to change. When selecting electives, your choices will be subject to the core requirements of the course. As a result, selections may be limited to a choice between one of two or more specified electives in some instances.
Modules studied may differ depending on when you start your course.
Final year
Compulsory modules
This module introduces students to leadership within health and social care, focusing on developing self-awareness and reflective practice. Students will explore leadership and management theories, assess their leadership style using diagnostic tools, and create a development plan aligned with personal and organisational goals.
Module Content
You’ll study topics such as:
Key leadership and management theories in health and social care
Leadership challenges and strategies in professional practice
Understanding followership and its role in effective leadership
Self-assessment using leadership diagnostic tools
Personal leadership reflection and development planning
Ethical, inclusive, and values-based leadership
Elective modules
This module aims to equip health and social care professionals with the knowledge, skills, and critical insight to lead and influence innovation and continuous improvement in complex care environments. It fosters a culture of reflective practice, evidence-informed decision-making, and collaborative leadership to enhance service quality and outcomes.
Module Content
You’ll study topics such as:
Theories and models of innovation and improvement
Leading improvement and innovation
Organisational culture and readiness for change
Co-production and stakeholder engagement including patients and service users
Data-driven decision-making and evaluation
Ethics, equity, and sustainability in service improvement
Case studies of successful innovation in health and social care
This module offers you the opportunity to critically reflect on your role and influence within your organisational context. Through exploring challenges identified in your environmental analysis, you will apply different leadership theories to your context, fostering a deeper understanding of how to lead authentically and collaboratively to support inclusive cultures and sustainable improvements
Indicative content
Employing a curious and analytical approach to examine key internal and external factors influencing your organisation, to inform effective leadership
Contemporary leadership models and approaches emphasising leadership as a collective and relational process e.g. transformational, adaptive, distributed, servant, situational
Exploring how culture, values, and climate influence behaviour and relationships to foster inclusion and psychological safety
Developing personal leadership presence and effectiveness, including cultivating curiosity, self-awareness, resilience, and adaptability in complex and evolving environments
This module critically explores the relationship between effective leadership and the team within complex and evolving health and social care environments.
Module Content
You’ll study topics such as:
Team formation and dynamics
Pseudo teams verses real teams
Team reflexivity
Motivating and empowering teams
Psychologically safe and high performing teams
Leading diverse teams, inclusively
Leading and managing teams in volatile and unpredictable environments
This module introduces approaches to measuring success in health and social care services. It will develop your understanding of how listening to service users, learning from feedback, and using data—through effective leadership—can support improvement and deliver high-quality, person-centred care
Module Content
You’ll study topics such as:
• Measuring success by looking at service user experience, outcomes, and service performance
• Defining meaningful outcomes aligned to organisational goals and patient priorities
• Embedding service user, family, and staff feedback in service design and governance
• Leading and sustaining change in complex healthcare systems
• Selecting and applying proportionate, evidence-based evaluation methods
• Using qualitative and quantitative data to evaluate outcomes and inform decision-making
• Fostering a culture of continuous learning through collaborative influence, transparent communication, and driving lasting improvement
Future careers
The PGDip in Health and Social Care Leadership enhances your leadership by providing improved self-awareness, new perspectives and skills development to support your career progression. The programme is highly valued by professionals and employers, and aligned with the newly developed NHS England Management and Leadership Framework.
You’ll gain the language and confidence to step into more senior roles, such as:
- department head roles
- system leadership
Graduates use their learning as a stepping stone to career advancement and further study – including the MSc in Health and Social Care Leadership. They contribute to leadership across health and social care systems nationally and internationally, with some having published their work.
Equipment and facilities
This distance-learning course is taught online, so you’ll need regular access to a PC, laptop or Mac with internet connectivity, and the digital literacy to engage with Microsoft Teams and Blackboard.
You’ll have access to a wide range of resources you can revisit anytime, including:
- our Blackboard virtual learning platform
- live-streamed lessons
- student community apps
- interactive platforms
- collaboration tools
- recorded materials
- diagnostic tools
- media content
International students are welcome and can access all resources remotely, ensuring a fully inclusive and connected learning experience regardless of where you are.
Where will I study?
You study this course online from any location
Entry requirements
All students
A first degree or an appropriate professional qualification considered to represent equivalence to a degree. In some circumstances experience of degree level study along with leadership/management experience will be considered. Where English is not your first language an IELTS score of 6.5 is required, with no individual element below 5.5.
Additional information for EU/International students
If you are an International or non-UK European student, you can find out more about the country specific qualifications we accept on our international qualifications page.
For details of English language entry requirements (IELTS), please see the information for 'All students'.
Fees and funding
Home students
Our tuition fee for UK students starting part-time study in 2026/27 is £3,650 for the course. The tuition fee displayed above is for the full course. If the full course is more than one year in duration, the fee will be divided into annual payments which will then be rounded. This may mean the total fee you pay is slightly higher than the fee stated above. If you take a break in study or have to re-take part of the course, you may also be charged an additional fee and will be notified of this at the time.
If you are studying an undergraduate course, postgraduate pre-registration course or postgraduate research course over more than one academic year then your tuition fees may increase in subsequent years in line with Government regulations or UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) published fees. More information can be found in our terms and conditions under student fees regulations.
International students
Our tuition fee for international/EU students starting distance learning study in 2026/27 is £3,720 for 60 credits
Scholarships and financial support
Find information on scholarships, bursaries and postgraduate student loans.
International scholarships up to £3000 ›
Alumni scholarships up to £2000 ›
Postgraduate loans for UK students ›
Additional course costs
The links below allow you to view estimated general course additional costs, as well as costs associated with key activities on specific courses. These are estimates and are intended only as an indication of potential additional expenses. Actual costs can vary greatly depending on the choices you make during your course.
General course additional costs
Additional costs for Health and Social Care (PDF, 277.7KB)Legal information
Any offer of a place to study is subject to your acceptance of the University’s Terms and Conditions and Student Regulations.
