Health and Social Care Course

Do you have an interest in Health and Social Care? Is your goal to work as a nurse, social worker, health visitor or even as a paramedic?

Then this course can provide you with the right stepping stone. Covering many of the important issues faced in the helping professions, this course provides one of the first steps to your success.

Read on to find out more about our Level 3 Health and Social Care distance learning course and how you can learn with our fantastic materials and online support

Distance Learning Support

At Start Learning we pride ourselves on our friendly and supportive tutors. Your tutor support will start as soon as you receive your course and will be valid for 12 months. All our tutors are highly qualified with extensive experience in supporting distance learning students. You contact your tutor via email and they are responsible for marking assignments answering your questions and guiding you through the course.

Home Study Entry Requirements

A reasonable level of literacy is required as this is a Level Three course but otherwise there are no entry requirements, just a keen interest in the subject.
At Start Learning we believe that everyone should have the opportunity to expand their knowledge and study further, so we try to keep our entry requirements to a minimum.      

Recommended Hours of Study 

We recommended you spend approximately 110 hours of your time studying for the Health and Social Care course. The pace of study is completely up to you. To give an example, if you dedicate 2 hours a week to the course it would take you a year to complete but if you could spare 4 hours a week you could complete it in six months.

Course Contents

Unit 1 - Human Development and Growth: What is growth? - What is development? - Maturationist Theory - Constructive Theory - Environmentalist Theory - Life expectancy - Mortality rates.

Unit 2 - Ill Health: Breast Cancer - Prostate Cancer - Lung Cancer - Alzheimer’s - Cerebral Palsy - Cystic Fibrosis - Down’s Syndrome.

Unit 3 – Drugs: Lysergic acid diethylamide - Amanita muscaria – Speed – Poppers - Anabolic Steroids – Tranquilisers – Cannabis – Heroin – Ecstasy – Cocaine – Tobacco – Addiction.

Unit 4 – Alcohol: Effects of drinking - Cheap alcohol - Protecting profits - Drinking Culture.

Unit 5 – Nutrition: Guideline Daily Amount – Girls – Boys.

Unit 6 - Eating Disorders: What are eating disorders? - Anorexia nervosa – Bulimia - Binge eating disorder.

Unit 7 - Mental Health: Depression - Atypical depression - Unspecified depression - Post-natal depression - Seasonal affective disorder.

Unit 8 - Personality disorders: Paranoid personality disorder - Schizoid personality disorder – Schizotypal - Anti-social disorder - Borderline personality disorder - Histrionic personality disorder - Narcissistic personality disorder - Avoidant personality disorder - Dependent personality disorder - Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.

Unit 9 – Abuse: Staying safe - Abuse and the Law - Sexual Offences Act 2003 - Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill 2003 - Rights of victims – Injunctions - Court orders.

Unit 10 - Social Care: Care plans - Barriers to care.

Unit 11 – Legislation: NHS and Community Care Act 1990 - The Mental Health Act
Sections - The Human Rights Act - The Mental Capacity Act - Lasting Powers of Attorney - Court of protection - Public Guardian - The Children Act 1989 - The Children Act 2004 - Childcare Act 2006 - Race Relations Act 1976.

Unit 12 - The National Health Services: Timeline of the NHS - Roles in the NHS - General Practitioners - Gynaecologists and Obstetricians – Psychologist – Psychiatrist – Nurse - Community Psychiatric Nurse - Social worker - Accident and Emergency - Minor injuries units - NHS walk-in centres.

Unit 13 - Social Services: Families – Communities – Organisations.

Unit 14 – Fostering: Permanent fostering - Short term fostering - Respite placements - Shared care.

Unit 15 - Child Care: The National Curriculum - Office for Standards in Education.

Qualification

Level 3 Award in Health and Social Care. Plus a Start Learning Diploma.
At the end of this course successful learners will also receive a Level 3 NCFE Award certificate of achievement. That means that it is independently accredited at a level of learning equivalent to level 3 on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland”

Awarding Body Information

NCFE is recognised as an awarding body by the qualification regulators ('regulators') for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The regulators are the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) in England, the Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills (DCELLS) in Wales and the Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) in Northern Ireland.

Language of Course

English

Assessments

This course is marked through a process of continuous assessment guided by your tutor following NCFE guidelines. This means that your qualification will be awarded according to your performance on assessments rather than by taking an exam.