THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
PROGRAMME SPECIFICATION FOR
1) Awarding Institution:
The University of Edinburgh
2) Teaching Institution:
The University of Edinburgh
3 ) Programme accredited by:
4) Final Award:
MSc
5) Programme Title:
Integrated Service Improvement: Health and Social care
6) UCAS Code:
Relevant QAA Subject Benchmarking Group(s):
7) Postholder with overall responsibility for QA: Dr Ailsa Cook, Interdisciplinary
Social Sciences in Health, School of Health in Social Science
8) Date of production/revision: August 2011
9) Educational aims of programme:
The overarching aim of the programme is to provide middle managers and senior
practitioners of health and social care with the conceptual, analytical and practical skills
needed to engage critically and effectively with service improvement and modernisation
across complex and shifting health and social care organisations.
This will involve developing students’ capacity to
 Critically reflect on their own practice
 Critically reflect on the organisational and policy context which shapes this practice
 Generate, analyse and appraise research evidence related to integrated service
development
 Develop professional and personal skills needed to manage the organisational
factors impacting on their service development roles.
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10) Programme Outcomes:
In order to address the educational aims the Programme has been designed to
develop students’ knowledge and understanding and intellectual and practical
skills in the following areas:
 Theory and evidence in ‘integration’, ‘service improvement’ and
‘modernisation’
 Research skills: Use of information and knowledge management in
integration and service improvement
 Project management in service improvement.
a. Knowledge and understanding
The programme equips students with knowledge and understanding of
bodies of literature and theory in the following areas:
Theory
 Integration of health and social care
 Organisational change and change management in health and social
care
 Service improvement and Models of service improvement
 Critical perspectives on health and social care policy and practice
Research
 Production, analysis and use of information in service improvement and
organisational development
Project management
 Management and leadership in complex organisations
Teaching and learning methods: seminars, group-work, web-based
structured self study, peer learning and independent study
Assessment methods: essays and dissertation
b. Intellectual skills
The programme will develop students’ capacity for analytical, critical and
reflective thinking in order to develop:
Theory

Skills in synthesising theory in a range of areas

Skills in situating integration, service improvement and modernisation
in wider current debates regarding health and social services reforms
Research

Research skills in evaluating the epistemological and practical value of
different types of information used in service improvement

Skills in analysing and presenting different types of information to
develop individual and organisational learning
Project management
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

Skills in integrating theory with practice
Skills in critical and reflective practice
Teaching and learning methods: seminars, group-work, web-based
structured self study, peer learning and independent study
Assessment methods: essays and dissertation
c. Practical skills
The programme aims to train managers who can:
Theory
 Identify challenges and opportunities in service development and how to
address these
Research
 Identify, capture, interpret and communicate information relevant to
service
Project management
 Manage projects efficiently
Teaching and learning methods: practice and process groups, inter-personal
leaning groups, community meetings, supervised practice.
Assessment methods: essays, professional portfolio, dissertation
d. Transferable skills
The programme provides students with a wide range of highly transferable
skills relevant to management practice in complex multi-professional and
cross organisational contexts, including
 Project management skills
 Skills in motivating and leading self and others
 Research skills and skills in interrogating and evaluating a wide range of
information sources
 Enhanced communication skills
 Advanced study skills, including skills for self directed learning
 Skills of critical thinking and theoretical reasoning
Teaching and learning methods: seminars, group-work, web-based
structured self study, peer learning and independent study
Assessment methods: essays and dissertation
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11) Programme Structure and Features:
The blend of practical and conceptual skills needed for integrated service development is,
to our knowledge, not covered in existing University of Edinburgh courses. We have
therefore developed a range of new courses specifically for this programme.
Year one: Certificate level
The Certificate level will take students through the key aspects of service improvement
across services and sectors. It comprises three 20 credit courses. Students exiting the
programme with an MSc or Diploma must complete all three of these courses. Students
exiting the programme with a postgraduate certificate must take the course in
contemporary issues and at least one of the other two courses. The remaining credits for
certificate students can be made up from other option courses offered within the
Postgraduate Programme in Integrated Service Improvement.



Contemporary issues in service improvement and information use: ideals and reality
This covers theory, practice and issues in ‘integration’, critical appraisal of notions of
‘quality’, what is known about the methods (tools) that could be used to achieve ‘quality
improvement’.
Use of data and information in service improvement This will cover selection and use
of information to identify goals for improvement and selection and use of information to
monitor progress towards goals (bespoke quantitative and qualitative data collection
methods, routine/ official information; analysis and interpretation: describing/
comparing/ associating and effective presentation of information).
Managing Projects in a multi-agency environment. Theory, practice, tools, skills and
principles in managing, monitoring and steering service improvement in complex
organisational environments. This course will build on courses 1 and 2 to help students
integrate theory and research skills in project management practice.
PDP: The Certificate programme will build skills in academic writing, research and use of
theory and literature through structured exercises and homework feeding into the
substantive course contents.
Year two: Diploma level
Students will at this stage bring a project into the programme, which is agreed with their
organisation as part of their work remit. The Diploma level input will help students design a
programme of learning which feeds into the planning, implementation, ongoing monitoring
and final evaluation of the work project.
The Diploma level will comprise 60 credits. 40 – 60 credits of these should be gained from
the following programme option modules:
 Quantitative Information and Analysis for Service Improvement
This course provides students with a practical appreciation of statistical methods and
approaches that can be used to understand and support service improvement. Learning of
statistics is embedded within a critical appreciation of the ways in which information is used
by organisations to support change and good practice in disseminating quantitative
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information.
 Qualitative Information and Analysis for Service Improvement
This course provides students with a practical introduction to the range of methods and
approaches that can be use d to collect and analyse qualitative information to support
service improvement.
 Outcomes for improvement: policy, practice and evaluation
This course provides an introduction to the ways in which a focus on outcomes of health
and social care services and supports can drive integration and service improvement. The
course includes a critical examination of recent policy, the research on outcomes and the
use of outcomes focussed approaches in practice.
 Mentoring and coaching for service change across organisational boundaries
This course provides students with a practical overview of core mentoring and coaching
skills and their application within health and social care organisations to support service
improvement.
 Personalisation: providing individual choice and control over support.
This course provides students with a critical understanding of the policy, research and
practice surrounding the personalisation of health and social care services as well as the
opportunity to explore different approaches to implementing this policy in practice.
 Supervised reading course (20 credits)
Students taking this course work with an allocated supervisor to research and write an
extended essay on a subject of their choice agreed by the course organiser.

Optional courses Where required the final 20 credits can be taken from a range of
elective courses which are already offered in the School of Health in Social Science
(SHSS), and other post graduate programmes for example in the Graduate School
of Political and Social Studies, the School of Business and Economics and Public
Health Sciences (PHS) (in the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
(CMVM)). The courses offer a mix of opportunities for distance, blended and
conventional learning suitable for students living at varying distances from
Edinburgh. They have been carefully selected for the Programme, and the
programme Director and tutors will help students identify the most suitable set of
courses
MSc level: dissertation
The dissertation requires students to write a critical and reflective report on their chosen
project and their role and involvement in the change management process. They will be
required to demonstrate engagement in research evidence and current debates, and
application of research skills.
The core and elective courses constitute a programme suited to the needs of this particular
group of students. The programme is designed to create a path of learning through which
students progress together and maximise opportunities for peer learning and support.
All courses will be open to interested students from other MSc programmes, subject to
availability and at the discretion of the course organiser.
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Integrated Service Improvement: Health and Social Care
Overview of Assessments
Year 1
Contemporary issues in service
improvement and information use: ideals
and reality
Use of data and information in service
improvement
Managing Projects in a multi-agency
environment
Year 2
Qualitative Information and Analysis for
Service improvement
Quantitative Information and Analysis for
service improvement
Mentoring and coaching for service change
across organisational boundaries
Outcomes for improvement: policy, practice
and evaluation
Personalisation: providing choice and
control over support
Optional Courses
Leadership across different health care
contexts: achieving your potential
International approaches to dementia
Assets loss and change in dementia care
Critical issues in learning disabilities and
dementia
Leadership in dementia care
Qualitative Methods: Ethnographic
Fieldwork
Research Skills in the Social Sciences: Data
Collection
Research Design
Reflexivity in Qualitative Research
Methods of Research
Change Management
Quality Management
Introduction to Statistics and Critical
Appraisal
Resource Allocation and Health Economics
Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis
Sociology of Health and Illness
Epidemiology for Public Health
4,000 word essay
4,000 word essay
4,000 word essay
4,000 word essay
4,000 word essay
4,000 word essay
4,000 word essay
4,000 word essay
Assessments for the optional
courses are described in the course
handbook
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Listening and attunement: an introduction to
the counselling approach
Social Determinants of Health and Public
Policy
Health systems reform and public private
partnerships
Health policy analysis
Public health and health inequalities
Conducting Research Interviews
Dissertation
15,000 word dissertation about the
context, aim and objectives of a
service improvement project they have
undertaken at diploma level, and using
research and analytical skills to
critically reflect on the project’s process
and progress and the factors which
shaped developments and students’
role.
All essays will be marked according to
Marking scheme
the common marking scale. An
average mark of at least 50 will be
required for candidates to proceed
from the Pg Diploma to the Masters.
The dissertation will be marked
according to the common marking
scale and a mark of at least 50 is
required to pass at Masters level.
Dissertations may be referred for
minor modifications to be completed
within a specified period. Candidates
who achieve an average mark of at
least 70 on taught courses and a mark
of at least 70 on the dissertation will
be recommended for the award of
MSc in Integrated Service
Improvement with Distinction. The
School discretionary distinction rule
will also apply.
Market
The market for this MSc programme is middle managers and senior practitioners in health
and social care in Scotland and England. No similar accredited MSc programme exists for
this group.
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Mode of study
Part-time
Period of study
The programme is designed to be completed in 24 months. Students can progress through
the programme at a slower pace.
Entrance requirements
This programme requires entrants who have a blend of professional or academic
qualifications and personal experience in management of service development across
health and social care. They also require the active support of their organisation, through
their line manager, for their training as the project they bring into the programme at
Diploma level will need their organisation’s support and involvement.
1. Academic/professional: undergraduate degree or equivalent vocational qualification
2. Experience: Documented experience of managerial responsibility in integrated service
improvement projects.
3. Organisational support: letter from their line manager
Recognition of prior learning
RPL will be available for this programme.
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