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Overview

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The Specialist Community Public Health Nursing (SCPHN): Health Visiting/School Nursing Postgraduate Diploma course offers the professional qualification for NMC-registered nurses (level 1) and midwives who wish to gain entry to the Specialist Community Public Health Nursing (SCPHN) part of the National Midwifery Council (NMC) register.

Specialist community public health nurses are in the frontline of public health. They are culturally competent, autonomous practitioners who are committed to improving people’s health and wellbeing. They understand factors affecting the health of individuals and communities, and seek to address health inequalities across the diverse communities and populations they serve.

Students who successfully complete this course will join the Specialist community public health nursing (SCPHN) part of the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) register in the relevant field of practice.

Key benefits

  • You will be studying at the top nursing faculty in the UK, and #2 in the world (2026 QS World University Rankings).
  • Access to lecturers who are active researchers in health visiting and school nursing.
  • Access to extracurricular seminars and lectures given by leaders in healthcare from around the world.
  • Located in the heart of London, across four of King’s Thames-side campuses (Waterloo, Strand, St Thomas’ and Guy’s) and the Denmark Hill Campus in South London.

Course essentials

Health Visitors are responsible for giving children a healthy foundation for life by assessing the family and home situation, providing support to parents and assessing the needs of young children. They build trusting relationships with children, carers and families to positively influence their future health outcomes.

School Nurses work with families and young people from when they start school up to aged 19, and provide a vital link between home and school. They actively listen to and advocate for children and young people, and provide culturally appropriate support and early interventions, and are committed to addressing health inequalities.

Students on this course will learn how to confidently search and appraise evidence for clinical interventions, how to make public health interventions, and will learn how to lead public health services that are person-centred and evidence driven to ensure positive health outcomes.

Administrative bodies

Course accreditation

NMC

Reviewed, inspected and accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)

Regulating body

Application closing date guidance

Base campuses

Waterloo - students walking outside Franklin-Wilkins building

Waterloo Campus

Centrally located and well connected, Waterloo brings together students from health, science and law, just steps from the South Bank. It's also home to the world's #2 nursing school – the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery (QS 2026).

Students walking across Guy's Campus quad on a summers day

Guy’s Campus

Tucked next to London Bridge and the historic Borough Market, Guy's Campus is a close-knit home for health and science students. With cutting-edge labs and buzzing central location, it offers an inspiring and unique place to study.