Why Study a Primary Care Postgraduate Diploma with Learna
We have over 10 years’ experience delivering online courses, giving you access to flexible, affordable distance learning in partnership with world-leading educators.
100% Flexible
Our courses are 100% online. No fixed study times mean you can log in and learn whenever and wherever.
Multidisciplinary - study in a group of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals.
Expert Led
All of our programmes are authored and developed by world leading experts in their field.
Our faculty are selected due to their subject expertise, experience and teaching abilities to ensure the highest standards of educational excellence.
Career Boosting
Get a University Validated postgraduate qualification in just 1 calendar year instead of 2 academic years.
40% of our alumni reported an increase in salary 2 years after studying with us.
Who is this course for?
This Postgraduate Diploma in Primary Care is designed for healthcare professionals looking to expand their expertise in primary care without committing to a full master's degree. It is especially suited for:
GPs (General Practitioners)
This PGDip provides GPs with advanced clinical knowledge and practical skills that help them enhance patient outcomes, stay updated with current clinical guidelines, and improve overall practice efficiency.
Nurses and Physician Associates (PAs)
The PGDip deepens nurses clinical knowledge, refines their practical skills, and supports the development of their roles within healthcare teams, allowing them to manage more complex cases and deliver more comprehensive care.
Public Health Professionals
For those working in public health or community health roles, this PGDip offers insights into population-based care strategies, health promotion, and prevention. It provides public health professionals with the tools to address health inequities, improve public health outcomes, and contribute more effectively to the delivery of primary care services.
Health Administrators / Managers
Health administrators and managers responsible for running primary care services will benefit from the practical focus of this PGDip on care models, service delivery improvement, and healthcare management strategies. It equips managers to lead effectively, optimise care processes, and improve the overall quality of primary care services.
Allied Health Professionals
Allied health professionals, such as physiotherapists and occupational therapists, who work within or alongside primary care teams, will gain a broader understanding of primary care frameworks through this PGDip. It encourages collaboration with other healthcare professionals and enhances their ability to contribute to patient-centred care.
How Will I Learn?
You'll learn through our flexible, interactive online platform, which allows you to engage with clinical cases, complete assignments, and collaborate with fellow students at times that suit your schedule. There's no fixed timetable—simply log in daily to participate in the week's activities.
Learn through engaging discussion
Our teaching approach is highly interactive, using small groups of 10-20 students to foster a collaborative environment where you can engage in thoughtful discussions and receive guidance from your tutor. You'll have access to learning resources and discussion forums that encourage ongoing interaction and deeper engagement with the material.
Throughout your studies, you'll receive support from a dedicated expert tutor and our Student Support Team, ensuring you have the resources needed to navigate the course successfully.
Curriculum
Our online Postgraduate Diploma in Primary Care allows you to study for just one calendar year and is a part-time, distance-learning course. The course is worth 120 credits and comprises six modules of 20 credits, each running over a period of six weeks.Module aims:
This module focuses on developing advanced skills in managing difficult conversations, fostering interprofessional teamwork, and utilising digital communication tools to improve patient outcomes and health literacy. This module aims to enhance students' proficiency in effective communication, patient-centred consultations, and collaborative practices within primary care.
Module content:
- Effective communication models
- Patient-centred consultations (Patient-centred clinical methods)
- Managing difficult conversations
- Collaborative care and interprofessional teams
- Health literacy and patient education
- Digital communication and telehealth
Module outcomes:
- Critically evaluate and synthesise evidence-based communication models to effectively manage patient-centred consultations and enhance patient outcomes in complex clinical scenarios.
- Analyse and interpret diverse sources of information to develop innovative solutions for enhancing health literacy and patient education, leveraging digital communication and telehealth technologies.
Module aims:
This module covers community and public health initiatives, vaccination and immunisation programmes, child protection and strategies to reduce health disparities. This module aims to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to implement effective health promotion strategies, disease prevention methods, and safeguarding practices in primary care.
Module content:
- Health promotion strategies
- Disease prevention methods
- Community and public health initiatives
- Vaccination and immunisation programmes
- Child protection and safeguarding
- Reducing health disparities
Module outcomes:
- Demonstrate a systematic understanding of health promotion strategies, disease prevention methods, and vaccination programmes, integrating current public health initiatives to improve community health outcomes and reduce health disparities.
- Critically apply advanced knowledge and skills to design and implement safeguarding measures, ensuring effective child protection and the promotion of health equity in primary care settings through interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement.
Module aims:
This module explores acute presentations, trauma and injury management, acute mental health crises, infectious diseases, urgent care, minor procedures, and disaster preparedness and response. The module emphasises rapid assessment, critical decision-making, and coordinated response to improve patient outcomes in urgent and emergency scenarios.
Module content:
- Acute presentations in primary care
- Trauma and injury management
- Acute mental health crises
- Infectious diseases and outbreak management
- Urgent care and minor procedures
- Disaster preparedness and response
Module outcomes:
- Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the diagnosis, management, and treatment of acute presentations in primary care, including trauma, infectious diseases, and acute mental health crises, utilising the latest evidence and guidelines to inform practice.
- Critically apply advanced problem-solving strategies and practical skills to manage urgent care situations and minor procedures, effectively coordinating disaster preparedness and response efforts to ensure patient safety and optimal outcomes in emergency scenarios.
Module aims:
This module explores chronic conditions prevalent in primary care, including cardiovascular diseases, respiratory conditions, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, multi-morbidity, and polypharmacy. It also addresses strategies for palliative and end-of-life care. The module focuses on evidence-based practices, patient-centred care, and the integration of multidisciplinary approaches to improve health outcomes and quality of life for patients with chronic conditions.
Module content:
- Cardiovascular diseases
- Respiratory conditions
- Diabetes management
- Chronic kidney disease
- Multi-morbidity and polypharmacy
- Palliative and end-of-life care
Module outcomes:
- Demonstrate a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of major chronic conditions, including cardiovascular diseases, respiratory conditions, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease, incorporating current evidence and guidelines to optimise patient outcomes.
- Critically evaluate and synthesise current research and evidence-based practices to develop and implement effective management strategies for patients with multi-morbidity and polypharmacy, ensuring personalised and holistic approaches to chronic disease management.
Module aims:
This module emphasises the importance of addressing social determinants of health and promoting health equity. Students explore strategies to deliver compassionate and effective care to vulnerable groups, ensuring equitable access to healthcare and improving overall health outcomes.
Module content:
- Geriatric care and frailty
- Care for homeless and vulnerable populations
- Migrant and refugee health
- Child health, adolescent health, women's health
- Occupational health
- Addressing social determinants of health & strategies to promote health equity
Module outcomes:
- Critically evaluate the evidence and guidance relating to the diagnosis, investigation, and management of health conditions affecting special populations, integrating a comprehensive understanding of social determinants of health to promote equity in primary care settings.
- Synthesise interdisciplinary knowledge to formulate holistic strategies to promote inclusive environments and support vulnerable and special populations, demonstrating effective communication and leadership skills in primary care practices.
Module aims:
This module provides a comprehensive understanding of medical ethics and legal issues, practice management, and leadership. Students engage in continuous professional development, fostering a commitment to lifelong learning. They will also explore research and evidence-based practice to inform clinical decisions and innovations in primary care, ultimately leading to improved patient outcomes and healthcare delivery.
Module content:
- Patient safety and quality improvement
- Medical ethics and legal issues
- Practice management and leadership
- Continuous professional development
- Research and evidence-based practice
- Innovations in primary care
Module outcomes:
- Demonstrate a systematic understanding of knowledge, current problems, and new insights in the assessment and implementation of quality improvement strategies in primary care settings, integrating a global health perspective with factors affecting patient safety.
- Critically apply advanced problem-solving strategies and methodologies to design and implement evidence-based management practices, ensuring continuous professional development and effective leadership within primary care teams.
Assessment Methods
This programme emphasises learning through active participation in case-based discussions, reflection, and real-life scenarios. Students engage with clinical cases that mirror everyday practice, fostering problem-solving and evidence-based application from the very beginning.
Across the modules, assessments are integrated with learning. Each week, you will work through two to three clinical cases, discussing and reflecting on them with peers under the guidance of an expert tutor. These discussions form the core of your learning and are also the basis for your assessments.
Our innovative teaching methods are designed to help you translate this learning into real-world clinical practice. You'll need to regularly log in to participate in discussions, ideally on a daily basis, and commit approximately two hours per day to your studies. Our dedicated Student Support Team is available to assist with any challenges you may encounter, from navigating our online platform to managing deadlines.
How Foundational Knowledge is Developed
The programme is structured so that foundational knowledge is introduced through carefully designed clinical cases. Each case is crafted to highlight essential concepts and progressively deepen your understanding as you apply critical thinking and evidence-based analysis. This hands-on approach ensures that you are not only acquiring theoretical knowledge but also learning how to apply it in a practical, clinical setting.
This programme is suited for professionals who thrive in an online, discussion-based learning environment. Please note that this course focuses on interactive, applied learning through peer collaboration and case discussions. You will be fully supported, encouraged and led through the programme to success and graduation!
Students are required to critically analyse clinically focused case-based scenarios, discussion threads and weekly questions posed by their tutors via the Academic Forum (an online discussion board) and designed to meet the module learning outcomes. Here, students make their own researched and referenced contributions and interact with the tutor and their fellow students. There is no didactic teaching, instead, students are posed questions and prompted to search the literature, read it critically and respond. Engagement is encouraged by the tutor prompting students to respond and the use of automated activity monitoring software.
At the end of each module, the tutor allocates marks to each student based on a marking rubric. The rubric takes into account the following elements:
· Promptness and initiative
· Delivery of post (spelling and grammar)
· The relevance of post and referencing
· Expression within the post
This can be either a Group Activity or an Individual Activity:
Group activity
Designed to stimulate and test the students’ ability to work as a team in taking the subject area forward. A group task is set, the group elects a leader using the online forum and the leader allocates tasks to group members. The leader is responsible for managing, collating and submitting the activity (online) at the end of the module. The tutor provides formative guidance part way through the module and marks the assessment at the end.
Individual activity
Designed to stimulate and demonstrate personalised learning, creativity and problem solving with application to each student’s own practice area.
Examples of individual activities might include either a written assignment, developing an academic poster presentation, a blog or social media project.
All students must complete the same assignment for each module which is pre-determined by the Programme Leader before the modules commence.
- Students are provided with case-based problems in the form of a one-hour timed examination.
- The exam consists of 30 'Single Best Answer' questions.
- Students are required to complete the exam online within the set time.
The online reflective journal is a learning portfolio that requires students to record and critically reflect on their learning. Reflection is an important aspect of the programme since the professionals will be able to spend time considering how their practice compares to the themes being discussed in the module. The tutor provides feedback to the student weekly and marks it at the end of the module. Reflective practice is a requirement for healthcare professionals for professional re-validation and professional development.
Entry requirements
Applicants will be assessed on an individual basis, but typically, applicants for the programme will:
- Possess an undergraduate degree in a relevant subject awarded by a UK university or overseas equivalent.
- Provide evidence in the personal statement as to how they can apply learning to a practical setting and reflect on practice.
- Basic IT skills (e.g. word processing, email and internet).
- If English is not the student’s first language they must hold an English language qualification.
English requirements:
- IELTS with an overall score of 6.0 or above.
- GMC / NMC (Nursing Midwifery Council) / GPhC / HCPC registered – with a licence to practise.
- Proof of study at a UK, USA, Australian, New Zealand or Canadian University or membership to a medical body from one of these countries.
Course Fees
Option 1: Upfront Payment in full. Option 2: Interest free payments every other month for the duration of the course.
Date | Instalments | Up-Front Payments |
---|---|---|
Deposit | £895 | £5,360 |
1st May 2025 | £893 | |
1st July 2025 | £893 | |
1st September 2025 | £893 | |
1st November 2025 | £893 | |
1st January 2026 | £893 |
† Deposits are non-refundable
†† Prices are subject to review following each intake
Option 3: Lower your monthly payments by spreading the cost for between 2 and 8 years with a loan from our lending partner Lendwise*.
*Subject to eligibility criteria.
Learna | Diploma MSc has a partnership with Lendwise which is a leading private student loan provider, to help UK students fund their course fees should they require financing. Lendwise is a UK-based education finance platform through which candidates can fund their postgraduate and professional qualification studies at leading educational institutions.
A Lendwise loan comes with a fixed interest rate for the duration of the loan (between 2 and 8 years) and no early repayment penalties. The interest rate offered will depend on the overall applicant profile and the application process is entirely online.*
*Other sources of funding are available.
Learna | Diploma MSc does not offer financial advice, recommend or endorse any financial product. You should always check the suitability of the product that is of interest to you. If you are in any doubt as to its suitability, we suggest that you seek independent professional advice.