Would you like a professional career in health and social care, working to tackle health inequalities and advocate good health outcomes for users of health-related services?
This contemporary and exciting Health and Social Care degree explores the inherent links between health and wellbeing as well as the issues shaping the healthcare agenda nationally and globally.
On this course, you’ll study key themes including psychological interventions and alternative therapies, social prescribing for diverse community groups, multi-agency working, managing long-term conditions and developing leadership and enterprise in healthcare settings.
Our BSc (Hons) Health and Social Care degree provides a broad understanding of the sector. You’ll explore the biological, psychological and sociological factors that influence health and wellbeing, alongside the structures, roles and services that support individuals from a broad range of socioeconomic backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities across the life span. You'll investigate challenges and opportunities, for example, relating to maternity care, supporting dignified end-of-life care, people who have learning disabilities and mental health needs, housing challenges and homelessness, people in prisons and those re-entering the community, and asylum seekers.
You'll look at how health and social care are delivered within our communities and neighbourhoods, and how this will increase with the new government priorities. You'll gain an understanding of the broad range of services within the community that support good health and wellbeing, including addiction recovery support, disability support, social work interventions, social care services, and aligned professional services such as schools, the police and government organisations.
You'll engage with learning that supports the completion of nationally recognised awards such as the Care Certificate.
Professional work placements are an integral part of your degree, providing valuable opportunities to gain hands-on experience and develop key employability skills across a range of health and social care settings. You'll be supported to secure industry-relevant placements aligned to your personal interests and career ambitions with the guidance of our dedicated Placement team. Throughout your placements, you’ll receive ongoing support to help you build confidence, apply your learning in practice, and develop the professional competencies needed in preparation for your future career.
Our lecturers are experienced health and social care professionals who maintain strong links with industry, ensuring their teaching reflects current workforce needs, emerging technologies, and real-world challenges in practice. Through established partnerships with health, social care, private, and voluntary organisations across West Yorkshire, they bring valuable professional insight and opportunities directly into the learning experience.
In your final year, you'll focus on leadership and digital innovation, equipping you with the skills needed to pursue leadership and management roles. You may also choose to enter graduate schemes, such as those offered by the NHS, or work with local authorities in children’s and young people’s services.
The applied nature of this degree equips you with the knowledge, skills, and experience sought by employers in the growing health and social care sector, while also providing a strong foundation for progression to Master's-level pre-registration programmes in professions such as Occupational Therapy, Nursing or Social Work, allowing you to enter these careers with both a broad undergraduate foundation and a professional postgraduate qualification.
You will study a variety of modules across your programme of study. The module details given below are subject to change and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
During your first year, you'll study four core modules.
Get an introduction to psychological factors that influence health and wellbeing, such as lifestyle, personality, mental health, motivation and risk-taking.
You'll make links between major psychological theories, concepts and models, applying these to health promotion, prevention and treatment of disease and illness.
You'll develop knowledge and understanding of how people react to, cope with, and recover from illness.
You'll look at cognitive processes, behavioural insights, behaviour change and self-management.
You'll also consider the importance of health literacy, digital health technology and personalised care on self-management of health and wellbeing.
Explore social determinants of health and influencing factors, such as gender, culture, education, poverty, and employment.
You'll investigate the causes and effects of inequalities in health and social care for minority groups, vulnerable adults and ageing populations, including how this may change across the lifespan and within communities.
You'll examine national and international policy responses to address social injustice and how health data can inform our understanding.
You'll consider how sociological theories and concepts such as social conflict theory, feminism, symbolic interactionism and functionalism influence the wider determinants of health within individuals and communities.
You’ll be introduced to key biological factors that influence health and wellbeing, forming the biological component of the biopsychosocial model and supporting a holistic, person-centred approach to care.
You’ll develop knowledge of human anatomy and physiology, and how biological processes relate to health and illness, applying this understanding to practical care and health promotion. Fundamental concepts support exploration of common health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and mental health challenges, considering their symptoms, causes (including genetic factors), and underlying physiological mechanisms.
There is also a focus on lifestyle factors such as diet, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol consumption, evaluating their biological impact on maintaining health and preventing illness.
During your second year, you'll study four core modules.
You'll explore the basis of community care, the ways in which community health services are organised and driven by local, national and global perspectives, the forms they take and could take, and tackle some of the challenges faced by these services.
You'll focus on strengthening the challenges community health services face around issues such as homelessness, violence, addiction, mental health, disabilities, ageing, gender, racial and ethnic inequalities and prison health.
You'll explore ways to engage with and strengthen community health services as well as develop insight into the wide array of professions that an interest in community health services brings to health and social care practice.
You'll evaluate and develop skills relating to strengths-based approaches, motivational interviewing, health literacy, shared decision making, supported self-management, advocacy, restorative practice, behaviour change and cultural competence.
You will critically review integrated care systems and interdisciplinary working to engage communities to improve their health and wellbeing.
During your final year, you'll study four core modules.
Experience matters. That's why we embed professional work placements within the majority of our standard undergraduate degrees.
Careers+Placements will work with you to find a placement or help you to arrange your own, whether that's in Leeds, another part of the UK or even abroad. You will be able to take part in a series of workshops, events and live ‘employer challenges’ to boost your confidence and prepare you for your placement.
During your placement, you could have an opportunity to gain degree-relevant work experience, build your knowledge of career sectors and secure valuable employer references and industry contacts. This experience will help you to shape your career decisions and find the right path for you.
Our students have completed placements in facilities that provide residential care for adults and older adults, with youth work teams, in the NHS, in children's and family centres, and with charities and non-government agencies. You may also choose to explore career pathways in primary care outside of traditional clinical roles, including social prescribing, public health, community development and digital health enterprise.
To find out how we can help you make your career ambitions a reality, visit:
Leeds Trinity University is committed to recruiting students with talent and potential and who we feel will benefit greatly from their academic and non-academic experiences here. We treat every application on its own merits; we value highly the experience you illustrate in your personal statement.
Information about the large range of qualifications we accept, including A-Levels, BTECs and T Levels, can be found on our entry requirements page. If you need additional advice or are taking qualifications that are not covered in the information supplied, please contact our Admissions Office.
Leeds Trinity University is committed to recruiting students with talent and potential and who we feel will benefit greatly from their academic and non-academic experiences here. We treat every application on its own merits; we value highly the experience you illustrate in your personal statement.
The following information is designed to give you a general overview of the qualifications we accept. If you are taking qualifications that are not included below, please contact our Admissions Office who will be happy to advise you.
| UCAS tariff | 104-96 |
For full-time undergraduate courses, you apply through UCAS. That's the University and Colleges Admissions Service.
On your application form, you'll need to know our institution code - it's L24 - and the course code. If you click through to the UCAS website using the button below, it'll take you to the right place with all the information you need.
As part of your application, you'll need to write a personal statement - we've prepared a guide to help you.
There's lots more information about the application process on the UCAS website, or you can get in touch with our Admissions team who will be happy to help:
Providing you with the opportunity to develop the professional skills and experience you need to launch your career is at the heart of everything we do at Leeds Trinity University.
The currency and contemporary curriculum of this course will prepare you for a rewarding career in areas including public health, frontline digital health specialisms, community development, health commissioning, health and justice, and psychological wellbeing practice. Progression opportunities also exist on a range of relevant health or social care graduate schemes as well as in postgraduate clinical and non-clinical roles.
After you graduate, Careers and Placements will help you as you pursue your chosen career through our mentoring scheme, support with CV and interview preparation and access to graduate employability events.
To find out how we can help you make your career ambitions a reality, visit: