Overview
The Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care at King's is a world-leading centre for applied and allied healthcare, clinical research and education. Our focus is on training the healthcare leaders of the future, with a strong commitment to providing post-qualification programmes of the highest quality.
This is a multi-disciplinary and multi-professional course. In addition to practicing healthcare professionals, we also welcome and encourage medical students in their 3rd or 4th year to join our intercalated MSc Palliative Care programme.
This course incorporates leading research and innovative and evidence-based practice. It is delivered by the Cicely Saunders Institute in partnership with St Christopher’s Hospice.
Our programme is open to any professional working in palliative care or with people facing advanced illness. Palliative care is a multidisciplinary speciality involving doctors, nurses, and allied health and social care professionals. We believe our students learn best in a classroom reflecting this range of professions.
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: https://www.hospiceuk.org/innovation-hub/support-for-your-role/grants/grants-and-bursaries-professional-development#content-menu-24104. These grants can provide up to £1,500 per year, with matched funding by your hospice encouraged by Hospice UK.
Key benefits
- Our course has both a national and international reputation, which attracts students from all over the world.
- Strongly focused on evidence and an understanding how to conduct research in palliative care and related areas.
- Course based at the Cicely Saunders Institute, a WHO Collaborating Centre for palliative care and rehabilitation that is at the heart of national and international research and academic-clinical collaborations.
- Our teaching staff are academics, practitioners, policy makers and global leaders in palliative care for adults and children.
- The course is delivered in partnership with St Christopher's Hospice, meaning our curriculum is informed by experts in holistic and compassionate palliative care of the highest quality.
Course essentials
Our primary aim is to improve your ability, competence and confidence to care for patients with advanced disease, and for their families. This requires you to be able to critically evaluate evidence of the effectiveness, appropriateness and acceptability of existing interventions and services, both medical and psychosocial.
This course is multi-disciplinary and multi- professional. You will learn alongside palliative care professionals from across the world and from all disciplines at the Cicely Saunders Institute. We have students from a wide range of disciplines and professions including doctors, chaplains, nurses, social workers and physiotherapists.
You will develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of the many clinical, social, psychosocial, and ethical issues which surround palliative care, and how to assess and deal with them.
This course incorporates leading research and innovative and evidence-based practice. It is delivered by the Cicely Saunders Institute in partnership with St Christopher’s Hospice.
Our programme is open to any professional working in palliative care or with people facing advanced illness. Palliative care is a multidisciplinary speciality involving doctors, nurses, and allied health and social care professionals. We believe our students learn best in a classroom reflecting that range of professions.
Our aim is to develop your competence and confidence in caring for patients with advanced disease, while supporting people close to them. Within your practice, you need to be able to critically evaluate the evidence behind different palliative care treatments. This is why there is such a strong focus on research and evidence-based practice in our programme.
Course aims
- Our Palliative Care programme aims to improve competence and confidence to care for adults and children with advanced disease, and for their families.
- The programme enables participants to develop the skills to critically evaluate evidence of the effectiveness, appropriateness and acceptability of existing interventions and services, both medical and psychosocial.
- You will develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of the many clinical, social, psychosocial, and ethical issues which surround palliative care, and how to assess and deal with them.
Key Information
Course type:
Single honours
Delivery mode:
Classroom & Online
Study mode:
Full time / Part time / Distance Learning
Duration:
One year full-time or two years part-time; in person or distance learning.
Credit value:
UK 180/ECTS 90
Application status:
Open
Start date:
September 2026
Administrative bodies
Regulating body
Application closing date guidance
We encourage you to apply as early as possible so that there is sufficient time for your application to be assessed. We may need to request further information from you during the application process.
This programme is offered in person or via distance learning:
In Person (Full-time/Part-time) – MSc, PGDip and PGCert
Our first application deadline is on 9 March 2026 (23:59 UK time)
The final application deadlines for this programme are:
- Overseas (international) fee status: 25 July 2026 (23:59 UK time)
- Home fee status: 25 August 2026 (23:59 UK time)
After the first application deadline in March:
- if the programme is not yet full, we will continue to accept applications until all available places are filled up to the final application deadlines above
- if the programme becomes full before the final application deadlines stated above, we will close the programme to further applications
Distance Learning (Full-time/Part-time) – MSc Only
- Our first application deadline is on 9 March 2026 (23:59 UK time)
- The final application deadline is on 25 August 2026 (23:59 UK time)
After the first application deadline in March:
- if the programme is not yet full, we will continue to accept applications until all available places are filled up to the final application deadline above
- if the programme becomes full before the final application deadline stated above, we will close the programme to further applications