Community Nursing Specialist Practitioner

Study PgDip Community Nursing Specialist (District Nursing) or PgDip Community Nursing Specialist (General Practice Nursing)
Nurse in blue uniform takes blood pressure from elderly lady in a wheelchair
If you have an enquiry about any of the apprenticeships at the University of Plymouth, please complete the below form.
Enquiry form
You can also call us on +44 1752 583625.
Office hours are Monday–Friday, 08:30–16:30

Entry requirements

  • Hold a GCSE Maths Grade C/4 or Functional Skills Level 2 in Maths (or equivalent).
  • Hold a GCSE English Grade C/4 or Functional Skills Level 2 in English (or equivalent).
  • Hold a first degree at 2:2 or above. Those individuals without a degree but with appropriate practice related experience relevant to the programme may be eligible to apply. Candidates without a first degree at 2.2 or above will normally be required to submit a short piece of writing as part of the admissions process. It is necessary to assess the potential student’s ability to study at masters level and therefore an interview will be necessary.
  • Entrants must be registered nurse (Level 1) and have a minimum of one years post –registration experience.
  • Entrants must possess the competence, experience and academic ability to study at the required level of the programme.
  • Entrants should have completed study at Level 6 or higher within the last 5 years.
  • Students will be required to be working in a community setting that will facilitate the successful completion of the programme learning outcomes and achievement of a minimum of 600 hours district nursing and community practice.
Claims for credit for prior learning, whether certificated or experiential are considered and if suitable accepted for Recognition of Prior learning, following University regulations and Faculty procedures.
Offers are subject to a satisfactory Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) report.

How to apply

The potential apprentice will be required to complete an online application form with the support of their employer and the University to ensure the Apprenticeship programme is an appropriate solution to their skills development needs. On completion of the online application form the University will assess the information provided and determine the next steps.
The employer must request the expression of interest form by emailing apprenticeships@plymouth.ac.uk.
Applications for September 2025 are now open.
Deadline to apply is 30th June 2025.
For more information or to express your interest please contact us.

Apprentices do not pay any course fees. Costs are covered by the government and/or the organisation. As education funding experts, we can support you in accessing funding via the apprenticeship levy or can provide alternative funding options to minimise or eradicate any up-front costs.
The total course cost for the Community Nurse Specialist Practitioner is £14,000.

Funding models for employers

We can support employers in accessing funding via the apprenticeship levy or provide alternative funding options to minimise or eradicate any up-front cost to the organisation.
There are currently two funding models:
  • Fully-funded: Levy paying organisation
  • Co-funded: Non-levy organisations and levy who have exceeded their levy contribution.
Fully-funded
If the annual pay bill of your organisation exceeds £3 million you will pay for your apprenticeship training through your levy account. If you have exceeded your levy contribution you will fund apprenticeship training through the co-funded model – to better understand how this will work please contact us.
  • Employer contribution: Employee salary only
  • Apprentices contribution: £0.
Co-funded
If you are a non-levy paying organisation (the annual pay bill of your organisation is less than £3 million) or you are a levy organisation who has exceeded their pot, the government will financially co-support your apprenticeship training – they will contribute 95 per cent of the costs and the employer will contribute five per cent.
  • Government contribution £13,300
  • Employer contribution £700
  • Apprentice contribution £0.
The new Community Nursing Specialist apprenticeship will enable employers and their apprentice to choose from the following pathways:
  • PgDip Community Nursing Specialist (District Nursing)
  • PgDip Community Nursing Specialist (General Practice Nursing)

Who is the course for?

The programme is aimed at registered adult nurses with a minimum of one year’s post-registration experience who wish to develop their knowledge, skills and practice to perform in the role of a Community Nursing Specialist in District Nursing or General Practice Nursing.
This contemporary postgraduate apprenticeship route provides an alternative, flexible entry into the Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip) Community Nursing Specialist programme in your chosen pathway, enabling the apprentice to study for a work-integrated postgraduate qualification whilst remaining in salaried employment.

Course facts

Duration: Two years
Hours of study per week: Approximately 20 per cent of the programme is theory. This equates to around one day a week over two years (45 weeks a year).
Delivery type: A blended approach to learning with face to face study days and highly directed online study resources

Programme

This postgraduate diploma programme will be delivered over two years. Students will undertake timetabled, blended learning approximately or equivalent to 1 day a week and the remaining time will be undertaken in the work-based learning setting. Working in partnership with its stakeholders the university will support the student to meet the apprenticeship learning outcomes, to enable increasing independence and autonomy as a Community Nurse Specialist Practitioner. The apprenticeship is clinically focused and developed to prepare and support adult trained nurses to work in community nursing roles in the fields of district nursing and general practice nursing.
The apprenticeship aligns with the Nursing and Midwifery Council Standard for Community Nursing Specialist Practice (NMC, 2022) and the NMC Standards for Prescribing (NMC, 2024) and the Community Nurse Specialist Apprenticeship Standard. All apprentices will undertake an End Point Assessment to achieve the Apprenticeship Standard.
On successful completion apprentices will be eligible to apply to the Nursing and Midwifery Council to annotate the community nursing specialist practitioner qualification (field specific) with V300 Non-Medical Prescribing qualification. This must be done within 5 years of completion of the programme.
More than ever, it is evident that the specialist expertise of the District Nursing service and General Practice Nursing workforce are central to the provision of health care in the United Kingdom (NHS UK, 2019, QNI/QNIS, 2015). The need for an advanced level workforce in the community and primary care setting has been identified (NHS UK, 2019).
 
Community Nurse Specialist
  • Gain a deeper understanding of the role of the community nursing specialist nurse and critically examine the theory, practice and principles of community nursing specialist practice using an evidence-based approach to enable them to adapt and provide a wide range of nursing care in home and community-based settings.
  • Further expand professional autonomy continuing to work within legal, and ethical and professional accountability.
  • Develop enhanced critical thinking, critical reflection skills, and attain the authority to make clinical decisions and prescribe within the NMC (2022) (Nursing and Midwifery Council) standards of the community nursing (Specialist Practitioner Qualification (SPQ)) role.
  • Develop a critical understanding of the current issues that impact on health delivery in the community setting.
  • Utilising a person-centred approach, assess people’s abilities and needs and plan and co-produce a plan to manage care, developing specialised advanced skills and case-management of people with undifferentiated and complex conditions.
  • Demonstrate leadership in supporting and managing community nursing teams, coordinating care, and managing complex and dynamic community and/ or practice caseloads.
  • Lead improvements in safety and quality of care by implementing quality processes, service evaluation and improvement methodology as well as working collaboratively as part of a wider heath care team.
  • Develop expertise in evaluating research theory and methodology, to enable the application of research to improve care and services for people and communities
Community Nurse Specialist
 

Field specific learning outcomes – District Nursing

On successful completion graduates will have:
  • Developed a critical understanding of the specialist role of the district nurse, by incorporating enhanced levels of professional autonomous practice, and awareness of social, political, and economic restraints in providing research based person-centred care.
  • Knowledge and expertise to facilitate health promotion activities to meet the needs of the community, caseload, individuals, their families, and carers, promoting partnership working and developing self-management plans and working collaboratively with multiple agencies.
  • Enhanced their understanding of the wider determinants of health, health literacy, mental capacity and safeguarding and people-centred care will be demonstrated through the analysis of advanced communication techniques between individuals, families, carers, and that of interdisciplinary and interagency environments.
  • Developed the underpinning knowledge and skills in advanced clinical assessment and history taking when working in patients’ home settings and to use risk assessment tools to identify changes in health status and to deliver coordinated care to patients who are deteriorating, palliative or end of life.
  • Critically explored and applied understanding of compassionate leadership and leadership theories, enabling others and managing teams, whilst promoting an open and transparent safety culture to facilitate quality improvement and initiatives in the context of district nursing and community nursing teams.
  • Developed expertise in critically evaluating research theory and methodology facilitating application of research to district nursing services and nursing in the home environment.
 

Field specific learning outcomes – General Practice Nursing

On successful completion graduates will have:
  • Developed a critical understanding of the specialist generalist role of the GPN, by incorporating enhanced levels of professional autonomous practice, and awareness of social, political, and economic restraints in providing person-centred care.
  • Expanded on existing knowledge, skills and attributes in primary and secondary health protection and promotion, developing an advanced capability in complex decision making and judgements to meet the needs of populations, communities and individuals and their families and carers.
  • Enhanced their understanding of the wider determinants of health, health literacy, mental capacity, safeguarding and person-centred care incorporating advanced communication techniques between individuals, families, carers, and that of interdisciplinary and interagency environments.
  • Developed the underpinning knowledge and skills in clinical assessment and history taking, working within the framework of the primary care consultation to deliver and co-ordinate research-based care in partnership with people through the life course who are receiving care, their families, and carers, whilst supporting service integration and collaboration.
  • Critically explored and applied understanding of compassionate leadership and leadership theories, enabling others and managing teams, whilst promoting an open and transparent safety culture to facilitate quality improvement and initiatives in the context of General Practice.
  • Developed expertise in critically evaluating research theory and methodology facilitating the application of research to improve primary care services within General Practice.
 

Benefits to the employer

  • Potential to access funding through the Apprenticeship Levy.
  • Flexible study option, the programme has been designed with employer stakeholder representatives to meet employers’ needs.
  • Provides a clear development pathway for community nurses to enhance quality of care.
  • Fill predicted shortages by growing your own talent and enhancing skills and knowledge.
Nurse in white scrubs with face mask on talks to a patient
 
Nurse in blue uniform sitting next to elderly lady who is laughing

Benefits to the apprentice

  • Contemporary, high quality programme in alignment with national healthcare policy and professional bodies.
  • No course fees for the apprentice enables the apprentice to study for a work-integrated postgraduate qualification whilst remaining in salaried employment.
  • Benefit from inter-professional learning opportunities and enhanced opportunities to develop integrated care.
 

Programme team