Health and Social Care

Health and social care is a field that addresses the wellbeing of individuals and communities through organised systems of support, drawing on medicine, public health, social work, policy, and the voluntary sector. Understanding how health and social care services are organised, funded, and delivered, and how they can be improved, requires both knowledge of the people they serve and analytical skills to evaluate systems and evidence. It is a field that sits at the intersection of personal and social values with practical organisation and resource management.

Birkbeck College offers this programme on a part-time basis, which is particularly appropriate for a field in which many students are already working in health or social care settings and want to develop their professional understanding alongside their employment. Birkbeck's distinctively part-time model, with evening and weekend teaching, has a long tradition of making higher education accessible to working adults. You will engage with the theoretical frameworks that inform health and social care practice, including sociological and psychological perspectives on health, illness, and disability.

Policy analysis examines how health and social care systems are structured and how policy choices affect who receives what support. Ethics, equality, and the rights of service users run through the curriculum, as does attention to the practical and professional challenges of working in care contexts. The programme is based in London, where Birkbeck's resources and the city's diverse health and care sector provide a rich educational environment.

Health and social care develops critical thinking about how care is organised and provided, alongside an understanding of the evidence base for effective practice.

Graduates work in health and social care management, policy, social work, community health, public health, and the voluntary sector. Many use the degree to progress within existing careers or to move into management and leadership roles. Postgraduate study in social work, public health, or health management is also a common pathway.