Skip to content
Postgraduate

PGCert, PGDip and MSc in

Palliative Care

Implementing Best Practice

Learn how to make a difference by developing, delivering and evaluating care that facilitates best practice in palliative care and care for people living with long-term and life-limiting conditions.

Course length 1 year full-time, 1 to 3 years part-time 12 weeks CPD module
Start date September 2025
Location Online
Watch the video about the MSc in Palliative Care: Implementing Best Practice

Discover the programme

About the programme

Life expectancy is increasing worldwide, with people living for longer and often with multiple chronic conditions. Palliative care, including rehabilitation and ‘living well’, is increasingly needed in people’s homes and other community settings, as well as in hospices and hospitals.

Delivering evidence-based, cost-effective palliative care in partnership with communities requires health and social care professionals, policymakers and researchers who can lead change and use robust evidence to inform their work. These professionals must be able to design, conduct, and critically appraise research about what should be done, how it is done, and to what effect. There is an urgent need for professionals in this field to drive positive change in palliative care.

Our MSc in Palliative Care: Implementing Best Practice programme is designed to address this significant gap. It will enable and empower you, whether you are a health and social care professional, policymaker or researcher, to progress your development, delivery and evaluation of care that facilitates best practice in palliative care and long-term conditions.

This programme is delivered 100% online, allowing you to access our world-renowned, research-led teaching from anywhere in the world. Designed specifically for an online audience, we use a range of interactive activities to support learning, including discussion forums, webinars and online lectures. 

Key benefits

  • Develop the research and personal skills, attributes, and confidence to apply your learning to implement evidence-based palliative care, whether your focus is hospital, hospice, or community, regional, national or international
  • Delivered by some of the world’s leading palliative care experts within the Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre, who have helped shape clinical guidelines and government policy
  • Qualification progression routes: PGCert, PGDip and MSc
  • Build your global network of palliative care professionals and connect with like-minded peers
  • Delivered 100% online – you can study anywhere
  • Flexible full or part-time study options
Meet us Applying Subscribe to our Postgraduate newsletter
Download the programme brochure

CONTACT US

pgtadmissions@hyms.ac.uk 01904 321690
Professor Jonathan Koffman

Professor Jonathan Koffman,
Programme Director

View profile
Professor Mark Pearson

Professor Mark Pearson,
Programme Director

View profile

Web chat

Meet the Programme Directors

Book a one-to-one chat with Programme Directors Professor Mark Pearson or Professor Jonathan Koffman to learn more about our PGCert, PGDip and MSc in Palliative Care: Implementing Best Practice.

Get the answers to your questions about the course, studying at Hull York Medical School, support, finance and more.

Book a meeting now

Professor Jonathan Koffman

Professor Mark Pearson

Who is this programme for?

If you have a passion for healthcare, a drive to excel, and a genuine desire to make a positive impact, this course will empower you to unlock a future filled with endless possibilities.

The programme is open to individuals working anywhere in the world who work in palliative care or the care of people living with long-term conditions and who have a drive to leverage change in services in the field.

Palliative care is multidisciplinary, and we welcome students from a range of specialities including health and social care professionals, medical clinicians and GPs, policymakers, researchers, and decision makers at local, regional and national level.

This opportunity allows you to embark on a journey that will not only shape your career but also transform the lives of those you serve.

Medicine student on a GP clinical placement, in a consultation with a patient
Doctor talking to a patient in a clinic

Experiences

Student stories

"Because it's remote studying I've been able to work alongside and fit in my sessions. So for me, it was a perfect balance of being able to expand that knowledge and do a really interesting course, while actually fitting in full-time working as well. I've really enjoyed it so far".

We talked to Louise Nicholson and Angela Laybourne, two current Palliative Care: Implementing Best Practice students about their experiences of the course so far.

Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre
Holding hands

Teaching and assessment

What will you learn?

You will learn how to:

  • Conduct a research project in your own work setting or country
  • Engage critically and knowledgeably about how factors such as gender, ethnicity and disability impact on palliative care research and implementation
  • Critically appraise the strengths and limitations of different forms of evidence
  • Design and conduct palliative care research that makes a positive impact relevant to patients, carers, workforce and policymakers
  • Design processes for, and confidently engage with, patients and the public throughout the research development, delivery and dissemination process
  • Present and critically reflect on evidence using structured, coherent arguments appropriate to the material, medium, and audience
  • Use implementation research to enable palliative care research to be successfully operationalised through working with key stakeholders (clinicians, managers, policy makers, and patients)

We offer additional master classes, training and dissemination events for students and graduates, to encourage you to integrate and develop your skill set beyond the remit of the programme and enhance your professional credibility and confidence in research.

For students undertaking the MSc, we will support you to further your early research career. We will offer guidance to students who wish to publish their research in high-impact peer-reviewed scientific journals, contribute to Research Excellence Framework (REF) impact case studies, achieve conference success, and/or progress to PhD study.

Course content

Modules

Your learning journey will be integrated by key threads in each module: equity, patient and public involvement, implementation science, and critical appraisal. This integrated and holistic approach will enable you to develop the research and personal skills, attributes, and confidence to apply your learning to the challenges of implementing evidence-based palliative care in your own settings, regions, and countries.

Some modules can also be studied as standalone courses. Find out more about our continuing professional development opportunities.

All modules are subject to availability, and this list may change at any time.

Angela Laybourne - Palliative Care: Implementing Best Practice student

HULL YORK MEDICAL SCHOOL Stories

If you’re interested in palliative care, or work in palliative care, the Palliative Care: Implementing Best Practice course at Hull York Medical School will really enhance and broaden your thinking.
End of Life Care Facilitator, St Benedict's Hospice and Centre for Specialist Palliative Care

Angela Laybourne

Qualification routes

This course can be studied flexibly to meet your needs via the following routes.

Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert)

The PGCert provides the theoretical and practical grounding of contemporary issues in palliative care and long-term conditions.

The course introduces you to global challenges faced by palliative care, the principles of implementation science in contributing to overcoming these challenges, and the practical skills in critically appraising evidence and conducting palliative care research when evaluating complex interventions relevant to palliative care and long-term conditions.

  • Credits: 60 over three 20 credit modules
  • Study length: 1 - 2 years
  • Online, self-directed learning and assessment: Up to 200 hours per module
  • Modules: Palliative Care Research and Practice, Introduction to Implementation Science for Collaborative Care and Long Term Conditions, Global Palliative Care Development.

Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip)

The PGDip enhances your knowledge and skills acquired in the PGCert modules with more specialist learning in research methods and the application of implementation science to address current and future challenges in palliative care and long-term conditions, which you can continue to build on in your own academic studies or career.

  • Credits: 120 credits over six 20 credit modules
  • Study length: 1 - 3 years
  • Online, self-directed learning and assessment: Up to 200 hours per module
  • Modules: As above for the Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert), plus Regression Analysis or Qualitative Research Skills for Palliative Care and a choice of two from Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions, Measurement in Health and Disease, Advanced Regression Analysis, Advanced Implementation Science for Palliative Care and Long Term Conditions

Masters (MSc)

The MSc will consolidate and build on learning from the modules undertaken as part of the PGCert and PGDip to develop your knowledge, skills, and confidence to undertake and deliver a high-quality research project relevant to the development and evaluation of best practice in palliative care and long-term conditions.

  • Credits: 180 credits over six 20 credit modules plus a 60 credit dissertation
  • Study length: 1 year - 3 years
  • Research and dissertation preparation: 600 hours
  • Modules: As for the Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) and Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip), plus a research project and dissertation

Continuing Professional Development

A bespoke study option, which can be designed to meet your professional development needs. Find out more about our continuing professional development courses.

Teaching and assessment

How is the programme taught

The programme is delivered 100% online using our Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

This online delivery will enable you to study flexibly, although you should take part in the weekly online group discussion sessions held for approximately one hour between 10am and 1pm (GMT).

We deliver our teaching and learning online through lectures, small group seminars (both tutor-led and student-led), Q&A seminars with tutors and external experts, one-to-one tutorials, feedback and support from tutors and other students —particularly through discussion boards that build on questions identified in lectures and relate to students' professional practice— self-directed learning, and both formative and summative feedback.

Assessments

The modules are assessed using a range of approaches, please see each module for details.

Formative assessments include group presentations, written briefs, and poster presentations.

Summative assessments include essays, poster presentations, protocols, oral presentations, and exams. Students studying for the Masters will also undertake a 9,000 word dissertation.

Teaching and assessment

What support is available?

You will be assigned an academic member of staff as your personal tutor throughout your time with us. You will have access to support from:

  • Programme Team and Programme Director
  • Module Leaders and Lead Tutors
  • Postgraduate Team

As a student at Hull York Medical School, you also benefit from the services and support available at both our parent Universities: the University of Hull and the University of York. This includes access to both library resources (which include online journals, open-access journals, and electronic books) and support and wellbeing services, including Hull York Medical School’s dedicated student support team.

Support and wellbeing
Student talking to a member of the Student Support Team
Louise Nicholson - Palliative Care: Implementing Best Practice student

HULL YORK MEDICAL SCHOOL Stories

A perfect balance of expanding your knowledge and doing a really interesting course, while fitting in full-time working as well.
General Practitioner, Sunderland

Louise Nicholson

Medical student taking notes with a patient

Careers

Career prospects

This course supports and empowers individuals across a range of professions to develop the knowledge and skills needed to design, deliver and evaluate care that improves the wellbeing of those with advanced illness and their families. For example:

  • Consultant in Palliative Medicine, guiding patients and their families through the most challenging times with compassion and expertise
  • Nurse Consultant in Palliative Care, leading a team of dedicated professionals to provide unparalleled support and comfort to those in need
  • Physiotherapy Consultant, using your advanced knowledge to improve the wellbeing and quality of life for patients facing difficult circumstances
  • Chief Executive of a Hospice, overseeing an organisation that delivers exceptional care to countless individuals during their most vulnerable moments

For those who seek to deepen their understanding and contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the field, pursuing a PhD is a natural progression. By embarking on this academic journey, you can position yourself on a career track that allows you to shape and influence the very methods that researchers employ, making substantial contributions to the field of palliative care.

Entry

Entry requirements

Applicants must have previous training in a health or social care profession (e.g. graduates of medicine, nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, or social work or other allied health and social care professions), in a science applied to human or organisational behaviour (e.g. graduates of psychology or sociology) or have equivalent professional experience.

Applicants must have a 2.1 degree or equivalent.

All applications will be subject to successful completion of an online interview.

English language requirements

Applicants whose first language is not English must have one of the following:

  • IELTS: 6.5, with no less than 6.0 in each component
  • PTE Academic: 61, with no less than 55 in each component
  • CAE and CPE (from January 2015): 176, with no less than 169 in each component
  • TOEFL: 87, with a minimum of 21 in each component
  • Trinity ISE: level 3 with Merit in all components
  • LangCert B2 Communicator High Pass (minimum score 33/50)
  • WASSCE: C5

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

UK (Home) and International (including EU) fees

Fees listed are for 2025 entry. Fees are reviewed on an annual basis and may change for future years.

PGCert

  • 1 year: £4,480
  • 2 years: £2,240*

PGDip

  • 1 year: £8,960
  • 2 years: £4,480*
  • 3 years: £2,987*

MSc

  • 1 year: £13,440
  • 2 years: £6,720*
  • 3 years: £4,480*

*The fees listed for part time study relate to the current year only, fees for subsequent years are subject to confirmation.

Applicants who hold Hull York Medical School palliative care module credits who want to apply for a higher level award for this programme should contact pgtadmissions@hyms.ac.uk  for specific application support and fee information.

Professional Development Grants

Applicants currently employed at hospices in the UK may be eligible to apply for a professional development grant via Hospice UK, such as the Wolfson Professional Development Grant and the Masonic Charitable Foundation (MCF) bursary. These grants can provide up to £1,500 per year, with matched funding by your hospice encouraged by Hospice UK.

Visit the Hospice UK website for further information.

 

Applying

How to apply

Applications are made online via the University of York website:

Apply for the Certificate (PGCert)

Apply for the Diploma (PGDip)

Apply for the Masters (MSc)

You don’t need to complete your application all at once - you can save and finish it later.

Applications to this programme for September 2025 entry will close on 31 July 2025. 

Some modules can also be studied as standalone courses. Find out more about our continuing professional development opportunities.

Further information

Explore more

Open Day at the University of Hull
Meet us
Physician Associate students at Castle Hill Hospital
Funding
Student talking to a member of the Student Support Team
Support and wellbeing