Health and Social Care

Health and social care as an academic discipline examines the systems, policies, and practices through which societies respond to illness, disability, vulnerability, and need. It draws on sociology, psychology, public health, policy studies, and ethics to build a critical understanding of how care is organised, funded, delivered, and experienced. The discipline matters because the health and social care system is one of the most significant institutions in British public life, affecting millions of people at their most vulnerable, and because the political, demographic, and technological pressures on that system are only growing.

At Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, this three-year, full-time programme develops your analytical and research skills alongside your substantive knowledge of health and care policy, organisation, and practice. You will examine the social determinants of health, the politics of welfare reform, the experience of different groups within care systems, and the ethical questions raised by care rationing, end of life decisions, and the commercialisation of public services. You will also study research methods in depth, enabling you to engage critically with evidence and to conduct your own investigations into health and care topics.

The programme includes a sandwich placement year, a year abroad, and work placement experience, giving you the opportunity to situate your academic learning within real professional and international contexts. Placements might be in NHS settings, local authority social care, third sector organisations, or health policy bodies, and they provide experience that strengthens both your career prospects and your critical understanding of how the systems you have studied actually operate.

Graduates work in health policy, public health, NHS management, social care management, research, journalism, the charity sector, and government. Many go on to postgraduate study in public health, social policy, social work, healthcare management, or research methods. The analytical framework the degree provides is also valued in consulting and in organisations working on international health and development.