Back to menu

Browse your subject areas


The University of Bolton's Level 5 FdSc Nursing Associate programme allows you to develop the skills and knowledge to become an effective and essential part of the nursing team, contributing to excellent nursing care. Offered in partnership with Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Airedale NHS Foundation Trust and Mid-Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust, our expert team will support you in gaining the experience and skills to join this demanding yet deeply rewarding career.

FdSc Nursing Associate [Bradford Satellite Nursing Centre]

Award

FdSc

Start Date

25/01/2027

Duration

2 years

Mode

Full-time

Location

Bradford Satellite Nursing Centre

UCAS Code

1881

The University of Bolton's Level 5 FdSc Nursing Associate programme allows you to develop the skills and knowledge to become an effective and essential part of the nursing team, contributing to excellent nursing care. Offered in partnership with Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Airedale NHS Foundation Trust and Mid-Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust, our expert team will support you in gaining the experience and skills to join this demanding yet deeply rewarding career.

Course Overview

Nursing associates support registered nurses to ensure service users and their families receive effective, compassionate, safe and responsive nursing care in and across a wide range of health and care settings. The University of Bolton offers this FdSc Nursing Associate foundation degree in an innovative partnership with Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Airedale NHS Foundation Trust and Mid-Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust at our bespoke Satellite Centre for Nursing and Midwifery in Lister Mill, Bradford.

Your studies will balance practice learning experience at one of our partner NHS trusts with study at our Satellite Centre for Nursing and Midwifery in Bradford. Attending the University will complement your learning in the workplace, and support you to develop the core knowledge, skills, values and behaviours that are required to work with patients of all ages in a range of settings covering pre-conception to end of life. Our dynamic and multi-disciplinary course team will support you as you learn to deliver high-quality person-centred care that takes account of the perspectives and pathways of individuals, their families and carers. We’ll help you learn to provide effective support to the registered nurse in the assessment, planning, delivery and evaluation of care.

To become a nursing associate, you’ll need to develop a breadth of knowledge and a flexible, portable skill set that will enable you to serve local health populations. We’ll support you as you learn to work across a range of fields of nursing, such as children and young people, adults and older people, mental health and learning disability nursing.
Read full course overview
Read less course overview

Highlights

  • This programme is approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and on successful completion, you’ll be eligible to register as a qualified nursing associate.
  • Your practice learning experience may be in a range of clinical environments within our partner NHS trusts. We’ll ensure you gain relevant experience working with patients of all ages in a range of settings covering pre-conception to end of life, supporting you to gain the core knowledge, skills, values and behaviours that are required to qualify as a nursing associate.
  • You'll have access to fantastic facilities at Lister Mill, including three purpose-built clinical simulation suites, where you can practice skills and develop knowledge using clinical equipment and simulators.
  • You’ll be guided by staff with extensive experience in nursing, healthcare and inter-professional education.
  • Our focus is on helping you learn to deliver nursing care safely, in areas such as administering medication within the scope of the nursing associate, using medical devices, using invasive and non-invasive procedures, and infection prevention and control.
  • We’ll support you to develop knowledge of human anatomy and physiology, common health conditions and the principles and practice of medicine management, as well as the appropriate decision making and problem-solving skills that are needed to support the registered nurse.
Read full course highlights
Read less course highlights

Key Features

  • Our approach to teaching and learning is ‘student-centred’, so we’ll work with you on an individual basis, providing tailored help and support throughout your studies.
  • Course materials are available online, allowing you to prepare work at home and make the most of the highly interactive in-class tuition.
  • Essential values and behaviours are embedded within the programme. We’ll guide you as you learn the responsibilities and professional values of a nursing associate and the nursing profession, and encourage you to demonstrate a personal commitment to professional standards and ethical practice.
  • We’ll support you as you learn to treat people with dignity, respecting each individual’s diversity, beliefs, culture, needs, values, privacy and preferences.
  • We’ll encourage you to develop team working, leadership, communication and inter-personal skills, as well as a commitment to lifelong learning.
Read full course key features
Read less course key features
Entry Requirements
Read full course entry requirements
Read less course entry requirements

Where changes are made to material information contained in this course description or a decision is taken to suspend a course between the offer of admissions and enrolment, we will inform applicants at the earliest possible opportunity and will outline the various options available to the applicant.

Career Opportunities

The nursing associate role is a support role that sits alongside existing healthcare support workers and fully-qualified registered nurses to deliver hands-on care for patients. After successfully completing the foundation degree you’ll possess a range of transferable skills, such as study skills, communication and interpersonal skills, self-awareness and team working. During your studies, you’ll also become familiar with ideas such as reflective practice, managing stress and change management and their application to healthcare contexts, ready for your future employment as a nursing associate.

Once qualified and registered, you’ll be well-prepared to gain employment as a nursing associate and give care to people of all ages in a range of settings across health and social care. Like nurses and other health professionals, you may expand your scope of practice through further education and experience.

What can I do with this qualification?

The nursing associate is a stand-alone role in its own right. It offers a route into nursing and bridges the gap between senior healthcare assistants who hold a care certificate and registered, graduate nurses. As a nurse associate, you’ll work alongside care assistants and registered nurses to deliver hands-on care, focusing on ensuring patients continue to get the compassionate care they deserve.

As a nursing associate, you’ll work under the direction of fully qualified registered nurses. Following your training as a nursing associate, you’ll be qualified to undertake some of the duties that registered nurses undertake. If you wish to take on further responsibilities and your ambition is to become a registered nurse, you’ll be able to apply for further study in pre-registration nursing. You could consider programmes such as the University of Bolton’s BSc (Hons) Nursing (Adult) or BSc (Hons) Nursing (Children) and you may be eligible to apply for year 2 entry.

Alternative career options

Graduates can also use the qualification as a stepping-stone into a range of other careers. For some of these roles, both relevant experience and/or postgraduate study may be required. Some of these careers include:

  • Counselling
  • Dietetics
  • Writing and journalism
  • Occupational therapy
  • Mental health
  • Social work
  • Teaching and education
  • Health promotion
  • Mentoring
  • Armed forces
  • Community support
  • Youth work
  • Care home management
  • Health services management
  • Child protection
  • Early years
Professional Recognition

The course is approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

On successful completion of the foundation degree you’ll be eligible to apply for professional registration with the NMC.

Fees & Funding

Home/EU Fees

Year of study Total
Entry Year 2026/27 2027/28 2028/29
2026-27 £9,790 £9,790 - £19,580
2027-28 -

International Fees

International applications are not possible for this course

As an international student you are not allowed to study this course because of the restrictions on your visa.

We offer a wide range of full-time courses in lots of different subjects, many of our courses start in September and January. If you would like to see what courses are available please visit our Course Search.

Bursaries

Click here for more information about the scholarships and bursaries available to University of Bolton students.

Important note regarding tuition fees: EU nationals who meet residency requirements (have settled or pre-settled status) may be eligible for 'Home' fee status. If you do not meet these residency requirements, overseas fees will apply. Irish citizens living in the UK or Ireland will be eligible for 'Home' fee status under the Common Travel Area arrangement. Please read the student finance for EU students web page on www.gov.uk for information.

Home Undergraduate Tuition Fee Adjustment

The tuition fee applicable to the first year of your programme of study is confirmed in your offer letter. The tuition fee set is based on the regulations and guidance in force at the time of offer but remains subject to adjustment in accordance with any government-approved inflationary increase. The University reserves the right to amend tuition fees for all years of study, including the first year, by no more than the maximum increase permitted under legislation and regulatory guidance issued by the UK Government and the Office for Students.

Where such increases are approved, they will not exceed the rate of inflation, as measured by an appropriate index such as the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), or any successor measure specified by government. The University will apply any adjustment consistently across affected student cohorts and will give reasonable notice to students of any confirmed change to the published fee before the start of the relevant academic year.

This approach ensures that tuition fees remain compliant with applicable legislation, proportionate to inflationary changes, and consistent with government policy linking permitted fee uplifts to the maintenance of high-quality education and outcomes. For more information, please refer to the government guidance at: gov.uk – Universities to deliver better outcomes in return for full fees.

Postgraduate and International Tuition Fee Adjustment

The tuition fee applicable to the first year of your programme of study is confirmed in your offer letter. The University reserves the right to amend tuition fees for subsequent years of study in accordance with its Course Fees Policy. Where such increases are approved, they will not exceed the rate of inflation, as measured by an appropriate index such as the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), or any successor measure specified by government. The University will apply any adjustment consistently across affected student cohorts and will give reasonable notice to students of any confirmed change to the published fee before the start of the relevant academic year.

How to apply
Teaching & Assessment

The nursing associate role is diverse and multi-faceted, so we use a wide range of teaching and learning methods. These are designed to help you to develop the skills, knowledge, self-awareness, values and behaviours essential to become a nursing associate. Learning focuses on the workplace environment so that you build the competencies demanded by the role and learn to apply this expertise across a wide range of care settings.

Our tutors are research active and teaching is underpinned by rigorous research. Teaching methods will include lectures, presentations, simulations and practise of skills in our simulation suite, seminar discussions, small group workshops, small group tutorials and one-to-one tutorials.

As well as attending timetabled sessions, you’ll also be expected to allocate significant time to independent and self-directed studies. For example, background reading, preparing for seminars, working on assignments and revising for exams will support your timetabled learning and help you develop the skills required for lifelong learning. Our friendly and supportive tutors will be here to guide you, and will gladly help you devise an independent study regime focused on your individual development needs. Learning will also be supported by the University's virtual learning environment, Moodle.

The assessment strategy for the programme is designed to ensure that you can demonstrate your achievement of the overall aims and learning outcomes of the programme, as well as the learning outcomes for individual modules. The assessment of practice and theory contributes to the final award. All assessments in practice (practice assessment documentation (PAD) and portfolio) must be passed.

You’ll be assessed using a range of methods, including essays, reports, presentations, objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE), traditional examinations and assessment of practice within the practice setting. Some assessments will contribute to your final module marks, while others are designed to help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, and where you need to seek extra support from course tutors.

Modules

The modules listed below may be a mixture of compulsory and optional. You may not have the opportunity to study all the modules shown as part of the course.

  • Mandatory Training and Preparation for HE4 Placement
  • Principles of Nursing Associate Practice
  • Anatomy and Physiology and the Foundations of Medicines Management
  • Wider Approaches to Promoting Health and Preventing Ill Health
  • Recognising Acute Physical and Mental Health and Illness for Nursing Associate Practice
  • Mandatory Training and Preparation for HE5 Placement
  • Contributing to Integrated Care for People With Complex Needs and Associated Medicines Management
  • Enhancing Skills: Developing Leadership, Knowledge and Evidence Based Practice for the Nursing Associate

Assessment methods

Level Assessment method
Level 1 Coursework 80%
Written exams 20%
Level 2 Coursework 33%
Practical exams 67%

Learning Activities

Level Activity
Level 1 Guided independent study 29%
Placement/study abroad 50%
Scheduled learning and teaching activities 21%
Level 2 Guided independent study 29%
Placement/study abroad 50%
Scheduled learning and teaching activities 21%

The university will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver your course as described in its published material and the programme specification for the academic year in which you begin your course. The university considers changes to courses very carefully and the university will minimise any changes. Please be aware that our courses are subject to review on an ongoing basis and changes may be necessary due to legitimate staffing, financial, regulatory and academic reasons. The content of course modules and mode of associated assessments may be updated on an annual basis. This is to ensure that all modules are up-to-date and responsive to employment and sector needs. The published course material and the programme specification contain indicative ‘optional modules’ that may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control. For this reason, we cannot guarantee to run any specific optional module.

Postgraduate Options

Programme Contacts

Disclaimer: The “Greater Manchester Way” represents our preferred teaching and learning approach; however, not all courses follow a block-teaching model. While course structures and delivery patterns may vary to meet Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Body (PSRB) requirements, all courses benefit from the GM Way approach to curriculum design and assessment. Applicants and students should refer to individual course specifications for the most accurate and up-to-date information.