Who should apply

Students with the following backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply:

  • Medical doctors
  • Nurses
  • Allied healthcare professionals
  • Healthcare managers
  • Public health specialists
  • Researchers
  • Policymakers and regulators
  • Informatics and data specialists
  • Other professionals with interest and proficiency in safety and quality in healthcare

Who has applied in the past?

Because the programme is part-time and delivered on a modular basis (featuring blocks of intensive, face-to-face teaching), students are generally working professionals who have decided to pursue a rigorous post-graduate degree while still working.

In the past, students from the following professional backgrounds have applied:

  • General practitioner
  • Anaesthetist
  • Clinical risk and clinical audit specialist
  • Quality improvement
  • Policy advisor
  • Researcher
  • Pharmacist
  • Incident report information specialist
  • Regulator
  • Nurse
  • Human factors specialist
  • Allied healthcare professionals, such as physiotherapists and midwives

Lastly, students in the past have come predominantly from the UK with a wealth of working knowledge of the NHS, but have also come from other countries including Australia, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.


What you can expect

The programme is designed to provide a solid foundation for those who work in patient safety and quality. Students can expect to gain theoretical understanding, practical know-how and training in academically rigorous approaches to solving patient safety and quality challenges

Students can expect to be joined by other highly-motivated individuals and teaching will predominantly be based out of St Mary’s Hospital, in Central London.

Lastly, students can expect high-quality teaching and mentoring from leading, international and national experts in patient safety. In the past, Dr Mike Durkin (National Director of Patient Safety, NHS Improvement), Dr Don Goldmann (Chief Medical Officer, IHI) and Sir Robert Francis have been featured as keynote speakers or lecturers. The majority of the teaching is delivered by expert faculty from the National Institute for Health Research Imperial Patient Safety Translational Research Centre, one of two national, English translational research centres solely devoted to patient safety research.