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Clinical Risk Management in Mental Health and Learning Disability Settings (Distance Learning)

Overview

Effective clinical risk management is crucial to the delivery of high-quality services and is central in managing the care and treatment of service users. If you're from a multidisciplinary and multiagency background this skills-based module provides you with the opportunity to appraise existing legislative frameworks, policies and procedures, while learning new ways of working in the area.

  • You'll explore clinical practice relating to the management of clinical risk and the safeguarding of service users, carers and staff.
  • You will study alongside a diverse range of students from different clinical backgrounds, bringing a richness to the course which will enhance your learning.
  • You will learn new skills based on contemporary evidence and best practice in formulating and managing risks.
  • You will experience a real-time systematic approach for assessing formulating and managing risk

Key Information

Entry requirements

The admission requirements for taught postgraduate courses shall normally be a good honours degree (or equivalent study at FHEQ level 6) of a recognised university or comparable institution.

You must:

  • Be working in a Health or Social Care environment.
  • Have access to a computer with a reliable internet connection.
  • Have the ability to access and use online study guidance and support.
  • Have support of line manager to attend all synchronous seminars.
  • Have at least one day a week study leave for duration of the programme.

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum of IELTS 6.0 overall with no element lower than 5.5, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our International Entry Requirements page.

Start dates

21 September 2026

Duration

8 weeks part-time

Credits: 20 Masters level credits

Code: HMH4328

Course Detail

You will be taught by distance-learning, consisting of synchronous and asynchronous seminars, lectures and tutorials (individual and group), provided by leading authorities in the field. All sessions and tutorials will be provided online using Microsoft Teams.

You will be assessed through submission of an essay and a case study with critical reflection. Your module specification/course handbook will provide full details of the assessment criteria applying to your course.

This course has modules making up 20 credits, with each credit being 10 hours of study (200 hours in total). An average [Approximately*] 9% (17 hours) of the study time on this course is spent with your tutors [face to face or online] in [lectures, seminars, tutorials, practicals and workshops]. The remainder of the time will be spent on independent study. Assessments takes place through a variety of [exams, coursework, etc].

Subject to mode of study. *Based on current core and compulsory modules. Calculated using data from the academic year 2024/25, as of November 2024.

Teaching

Our Distance Learning courses have a range of start dates throughout the academic year, with examinations and assessments based on these. All start dates can be found on each course page and term dates are also available.

Our Distance Learning courses are taught online so you have the flexibility to choose when and how you study. Unless it says otherwise in a module description, teaching on this course will be 100% online.

Feedback

Feedback (usually written) is normally provided on all coursework submissions within three term time weeks – unless the submission was made towards the end of the session in which case feedback would be available on request after the formal publication of results. Feedback on exam performance/final coursework is available on request after the publication of results.

Progression

You may progress to the next stage of your course or research degree, subject to meeting University assessment criteria and professional, statutory, or regulatory body guidelines..

As a Distance Learning student, you must provide and have access to the following IT equipment and facilities to access your Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and to fully participate on your course.

  • Personal computer. Courses are designed for personal computers. Some content may not be fully accessible via mobile devices including but not limited to assessments and where there is a need install supplementary software on your personal computer.
  • Internet connection with sufficient bandwidth to allow video streaming (4Mps minimum).
  • Microphone and webcam.

Browser

Your course can be accessed using the latest versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, or Microsoft Edge. Full functionality cannot be guaranteed in older or less commonly used browsers. JavaScript must be enabled in your preferred browser.

Minimum Specifications

Your personal computer and webcam will require the following minimum specifications to access your course and study materials:

Hardware

  • Headphones, soundcard and speakers, microphone, and webcam. (If you are uncertain if your system meets the requirements, please check with the manufacturer or at the place of purchase).
  • Minimum Intel Core i5 (Minimum Dual Core 2 GHz) or AMD A10 or equivalent, 4GB of RAM (recommended 8 GB for better overall experience), with a screen resolution of at least 1280x800px.

Operating systems

  • Windows: Windows 10 or later. Mac: OS X 10.13 or later.
  • Linux: 64-bit Linux distribution of Ubuntu 16.04+LTS, Fedora 30+ Workstation, RHEL 8+ Workstation or CentOS 8+.
  • Android: OS 10, 11 or 12.
  • iOS: iOS13 or iOS14.

Internet connection

Our distance learning courses can be studied from any location, however we recommend a broadband/high speed connection of 10 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload speed. (If you are unsure if your internet connection speeds meet requirements, please speak with your internet service provider for clarification).

Other software requirements

  • Microsoft Teams, Adobe Creative Cloud and Office 365. Access to these applications will be provided to you as a University of Huddersfield student. Please note that some software, including Adobe Creative Cloud, will need to be downloaded and installed. You may be required to have full administrator rights to do this, which could be restricted if using an employer’s computer or shared device.

Mobile App

The University’s VLE, Brightspace, has a mobile Pulse app that can help students stay connected and on track with their course in Brightspace.The Pulse app only works with some core features of Brightspace. The Pulse app may not work on all Brightspace features. Third-party tools may not work as well. Mobile devices are not suitable for all courses, or some coursework. Users may need to complete some tasks on other non-mobile devices meeting the system requirements.

Costs

The costs of IT equipment and internet access are not included in the tuition fees and are your sole responsibility. For more information visit What’s included in your tuition fee? - University of Huddersfield

  1. Our teaching staff rank first in England for the proportion with higher degrees and teaching qualifications, as well as being top five for those holding doctorates (HESA 2025). So you’ll learn from some of the best, helping you to be the best.

  2. We are second in the country for National Teaching Fellowships, which mark the UK’s best lecturers in Higher Education, winning a total of 24 since 2008 (2025 data).

  3. We won the first Global Teaching Excellence Award, recognising the University’s commitment to world-class teaching and its success in developing students as independent learners and critical thinkers (Higher Education Academy, 2017).

Visit ‘Our experts’ page where you’ll find in-depth profiles of all our academic staff

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Research excellence

Research plays an important role in informing all our teaching and learning activities. Through research our staff remain up to date with the latest developments in their field, which means they can help you to develop knowledge and skills that are current and highly relevant.

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Research Excellence

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Important information

When you enrol as a student of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by our terms and conditions, Handbook of Regulations and associated policies. It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to them when you join us as a student. You will find a guide to the key terms here, along with the Student Protection Plan.

Although we always try and ensure we deliver our courses as described, sometimes we may have to make changes for the following reasons:

Changes to a course you have applied for but are not yet enrolled on

If we propose to make a major change to a course that you are holding an offer for, then we will tell you as soon as possible so that you can decide whether to withdraw your application prior to enrolment. We may occasionally have to withdraw a course you have applied for or combine your programme with another programme if we consider this reasonably necessary to ensure a good student experience, for example if there are not enough applicants. Where this is the case we will notify you as soon as reasonably possible and if you are unhappy with the change we will discuss with you other suitable courses we can transfer your application to. If you do not wish to transfer to another course with us, you may cancel your application and we will refund you any deposits or fees you have paid to us.

Changes to your course after you enrol as a student

Changes to option modules

Where your course allows you to choose modules from a range of options, we will review these each year and change them to reflect the expertise of our staff, current trends in research and as a result of student feedback or demand for certain modules. We will always ensure that you have an equivalent range of options to that advertised for the course. We will let you know in good time the options available for you to choose for the following year.

Major changes

We will only make major changes to non-optional modules on a course if it is necessary for us to do so and provided such changes are reasonable. A major change is a change that substantially changes the outcomes, or a significant part of your course, such as the nature of the award or a substantial change to module content, teaching days (part time provision), type of delivery or assessment of the core curriculum. For example, it may be necessary to make a major change to reflect changes in the law or the requirements of the University’s regulators or a commissioning or accrediting body. We may also make changes to improve the course in response to student, examiners’ or other course evaluators’ feedback or to ensure you are being taught current best practice. Major changes may also be necessary because of circumstances outside our reasonable control, such as a key member of staff being unable to teach due to illness, where they have a particular specialism that can’t be adequately covered by other members of staff; or due to pandemics, other disasters (such as fire, flood or war) or changes made by the government.

Major changes would usually be made with effect from the next academic year, but may happen sooner in an emergency. We will notify you as soon as possible should we need to make a major change and will consult with affected groups of students and any changes would only be made in accordance with our regulations. If you reasonably believe that the proposed change will cause you detriment or hardship we will, if appropriate, work with you to try to reduce the adverse effect on you or find an appropriate solution. Where an appropriate solution cannot be found and you let us know before the change takes effect you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the University without liability to the University for any additional tuition fees. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so and you may be eligible for an exit award depending on how far through your course you are.

In exceptional circumstances, we may, for reasons outside of our control, be forced to discontinue or suspend your course. Where this is the case, a formal exit strategy will be followed in accordance with the student protection plan.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the principal regulator for the University.

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