If you've been interested in the themes of health care and management - and how they entwine - you might want to take it further by investigating some selected Open University courses:

Masters in Public Administration

A leading edge qualification for managers throughout federal, national, regional and local government, the uniformed services, public and voluntary agencies, and social enterprises. It will be particularly relevant if you are involved in delivering policy, leading modernisation projects, and supporting innovation.

Managing Performance and Change

Get the tools and techniques you need to improve performance in your team, department, organisation or project. This course brings cross-functional perspectives – from markets, operations, finance and accounting, and people – to bear on complex management problems.

Professional Certificate in Management (Health and Social Care)

This course provides you with the knowledge, techniques and analytical tools you need to become an effective manager. It will help you to manage yourself, to ensure that you are doing the work you should be doing, to support your staff in the work that they do and, importantly, to develop the skills that underpin the delivery of modern health and social care services.

Foundation Degree in Health and Social Care

This inter-disciplinary degree is suitable for support staff working in a variety of health and social care settings such as occupational therapy, physiotherapy and residential care. Students will have the opportunity to develop knowledge, skills and competencies which underpin practice across allied health professions in the health and social care sector.

BA/BSc (Hons) Nursing Studies

If you're a nurse and your higher education study ended with a diploma, the OU’s Nursing Studies degree puts an honours degree within your grasp. With your diploma of higher education (in any nursing branch – adult, children, mental health, learning disability, midwifery or health visiting) you can apply to use the credit from your diploma towards a BA/BSc (Hons) Nursing Studies.

Professional Diploma in Management

This will be of particular interest to those aspiring to middle level managerial roles in large organisations and those who have a leadership role in smaller organisations. The study programme affords the opportunity to stand back from your current situation in order to concentrate on themes of understanding and improving performance, managing projects and change.

Managing Care

This course is for people who have – or would like to learn about – frontline management roles in a wide range of care settings. It provides the knowledge, skills and analytical tools needed to become an effective manager who is able to use evidence-based strategies for good outcomes for service users.

Managing Health & Social Care

This course is for people with management responsibilities in the public, voluntary and private sectors of health and social care, including health care practitioners, social workers, and managers of residential care and administrative areas.

Leading Healthcare

This course will help you critically analyse practice, examine local healthcare contexts and plan change, working collaboratively with key healthcare colleagues. The focus and rationale for change and its successful management will form the main focus for questions that you will explore throughout this module.

Promoting Public Health

This new course will help you develop your skills in reviewing, critiquing and evaluating current policies promoting public health. Designed to meet the needs of the four UK nations and embrace a global context, it is aimed at different professional groups as well as voluntary workers in health promotion.