Adult health and social care

What can be done to ensure health and wellbeing for everyone? How can we be sure that people will get the services and care they need? What are the essentials of good practice in health and social care?

Health and social care services for adults are changing rapidly – care for adults is increasingly complex with challenges such as health improvement, management of long term conditions, rehabilitation, dementia and end-of-life care – these simple questions provoke challenging answers.

Whether you work in adult services, are a carer or a service user or simply have a personal interest in the subject, adult health and social care is a fascinating area to study – personally rewarding and offering qualifications to open up career opportunities for you in a sector which is growing and will always need staff.

Relevant to your career

Our courses and qualifications are benchmarked against employer requirements, studying with us will equip you with the knowledge and skills essential for working with adults in health and social care.

You will also be studying alongside a range of health and social care practitioners, carers and service users – so you’ll get an understanding of different perspectives and of the increasingly diverse and interagency nature of this sector.

Our courses are bang up-to-date with multi-media online learning guides, student forums, specially written books, and up-to-date policy links. And if you are working or have other pressures, OU study is accessible and affordable. You can fit study in alongside a busy and demanding role as a professional or lay carer.

As you study with us, you’ll explore the wide range of practices and settings that make up this sector – families, primary health care, advocacy organisations, social care in the community, health promotion units and acute care in hospitals. 
You’ll explore how practice is shaped by the institutional, multi-agency and wider societal context placing your understanding within current political imperatives.

At the heart of your study is a focus on improving the experience and outcomes for adults using services. What is needed to respect diverse voices and needs? How does person-centred care balance practitioner expertise with service user voice? What does the evidence say about best practice?

As you study with us, you will build an understanding of a wide range of service user groups including older people and those with learning and physical disabilities, long term conditions, acute health needs and sexual and reproductive health issues. Specialised options in palliative care, mental health, communication and relationships, management and leadership, complimentary and alternative medicine are also available.

Qualifications and courses in adult health and social care

We offer a range of flexible and accessible courses and qualifications that address the challenges of adult health and social care – starting from Level 1 (equivalent to year 1 of University study) through to Level 3 (final year undergraduate) and Masters.