Personal Professional Development (Public Health and Primary Care)

Fees for entry in 2027 have not yet been set. For reference, the fees for the academic year beginning September 2026 were as follows:

• Modular (part-time distance learning)
  UK students (per annum): £1,200 per 15 credits
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £2,600 per 15 credits

Fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance. For general fees information please visit postgraduate fees .

The course fees include all the tuition, technical support and assessments required for the course, but you are likely to incur some additional costs:

• maximum of one core text book per unit (approximately £30 per book) where e-books are not available;
• communication costs for internet use and telephone;
• a statistical software package (approximately £20).

A copy of the statistical software for Practical Statistics for Population Health will be provided free for all international fee-paying students.

Costs may also be incurred for travel, subsistence and accommodation charges during the following optional events or units:

• the Arts and Public Health blended learning unit
• the Intercultural Public Health blended learning unit
• the Infection, Prevention & Control blended learning unit
• the Engaging the Hard to Reach for Health Gain blended learning unit

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

The course is designed to provide a theoretical grounding in Emergency Planning, Response & Resilience (EPRR) for health care professionals with a responsibility for emergency planning and resilience and an introduction to the subject for those with an interest.

The unit will enable students to study the evidence base underpinning major incident and emergency management, with case studies, in order to develop a critical view of resilience and capacity management. The course will provide students with an ability to critically review major incident planning and explore some of the specialist incident types that require a dedicated response. Students will review the UK legislative framework surrounding major incident planning and resilience as a basis to discuss regional, national and international responses to multiple casualty events. Students will also gain an understanding of the health effects of chemical, biological, radiation and climate related hazards.

This unit aims for students to gain an understanding of the principles of emergency planning, response and resilience and their application in a range of situations.

Category of outcome:	Students will be able to:
Knowledge and understanding	Recognise key definitions, concepts and frameworks that underpin EPRR Demonstrate a working knowledge of legislation, policy & guidelines relating to EPRR in healthcare Explore the health effects and impacts of a range of hazards Appreciate the link between socio-economic factors, health outcomes and how these can impact on the population Recognise the key features of international frameworks that govern EPRR Describe the structures involved in multi-agency EPRR and appreciate their roles Demonstrate an understanding of the identification, assessment, planning and mitigation process for managing risk
Intellectual skills	Critically review plans and critically analyse the response to emergencies Demonstrate the ability to apply emergency planning, preparedness, resilience and response approaches to a range of scenarios Apply approaches to emergency preparedness, resilience, and response to different scenarios, making sound judgments and communicating decisions clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences
Practical skills	Work collaboratively through a range of EPRR scenarios – teamwork Demonstrate the ability to communicate clearly to a range of audiences
Transferable skills and personal qualities	Apply the principles of evidence-based practice

The syllabus for the Emergency Planning Response and Resilience (EPRR) unit includes: 

• Introduction to EPRR and legislation and guidance
• Assessing risk
• Risk mitigation and planning
• Training and exercising
• Response
• Integrated emergency management/command and control
• Exploring the response, recovery phase and resilience
• Communication, warning and informing the public
• Debrief, report writing and lessons learned
• International frameworks relating to public health and EPRR

This is an optional course unit for students on the web-based learning programme. There will be written materials by the tutors guiding students through the course, illustrated with photographs and figures to illustrate the rich topic areas. Much of the content will be presented through reading, including peer reviewed journals (accessible through the University library), and multimedia, including videos. Students will be directed to a variety of relevant literature each week, but also encouraged to research and explore and find their own sources.

There will be regular interaction with the tutors through scheduled webinars (which will be recorded and made available) and through the online discussion boards. Students will be encouraged to use self-reflection to think about the ideas discussed and take part in discussion board activities. Students should work through the unit in a logical sequence. The individual course unit timetables will guide what should be done and when. Participation in the discussion boards is greatly encouraged and can help enhance your learning experience and prepare you for your assessment.

Familiarity with major incident planning is not a pre-requisite of the course but if students have knowledge or experience of this, they are encouraged to share this as basis for discussions if they wish to do so.

In line with guidance from the Office for Students and Quality Assurance Agency, the programme will be augmented by the Programme Director Seminar Series to deliver study skills, written English, academic writing, research skills, critical thinking and understanding arguments, careers and employability skills, revision/assessment/examination skills including time management.

 

Recommended reading is available online through the University of Manchester library

Books

Ghebrehewet S, et al. Health Protection: Principles and Practice. Oxford University Press; 2016.

Sellwood, C., & Wapling, A. (Eds.). Health emergency preparedness and response. CABI;2016

Brian Dillon et al. Blackstone’s Emergency Planning, Crisis, and Disaster Management. Oxford University Press; 2014. 2nd edition.

Websites

UK Health Security Agency (UK HSA). Available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-health-security-agency

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Available at:

https://www.cdc.gov/

World Health Organization (WHO). Available at:

https://www.who.int/

UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). Available at:

https://www.undrr.org/

JESIP (Joint Doctrine: the interoperability framework) website. Available at:

https://www.jesip.org.uk/

Cabinet Office. Emergency response and Recovery. Guidance. Available at:  

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/emergency-response-and-recovery 

For further information, please watch this video from our Course Unit Leader.

If you have any questions about the content of this unit, please contact the course unit leader, Anjana Sahu, via email on anjana.sahu@manchester.ac.uk. If you have any other queries, please contact the PGT programme team via email at shs.programmes@manchester.ac.uk.