How to Practice Nursing in UK

For those who want to practice nursing in UK, all nurses, midwives, and specialist community public health nurses must register with the NMC and renew their registration every three years. The NMC or the Nursing and Midwifery Council is the regulatory body in UK who:

• Sets the standards of education, training, and conduct that nurses and midwives need, to deliver high quality healthcare services consistently throughout their careers.
• Ensures that nurses and midwives keep their skills and knowledge up to date and uphold the standards of their professional Code.
• Registers all nurses and midwives and ensure that they are properly qualified and competent to practice nursing in UK.
• Investigates allegations made against nurses and midwives who may not have followed the Code.
• Ensures that midwives are safe to practice by setting rules for their practice and supervision.

If you are a registered nurse who acquired a nursing degree outside of the European Economic Area and wish to practice nursing in UK, you must successfully complete the ONP or the Overseas Nursing Program. The ONP is the standard training set by the Nursing and Midwifery Council in UK for those who want to practice nursing in UK but earned a degree in nursing or trained outside the EU. The program consists of compulsory 20 day protected learning and supervised practice. This includes health and safety issues, UK law, drugs administration, record keeping, and the NMC code of conduct.

All nursing professional who want to practice nursing in UK but are trained outside the European Economic Area or EEA, must also pass the International English Language Test or the IELTS. The scores listed below must be met or surpassed by the nursing applicant in order to be allowed to practice nursing in UK:

1. overall average score of 7 (out of a possible 9)
2. 7.0 in the listening and reading sections
3. 7.0 in the writing and speaking section

All nursing in UK applicants are evaluated based on their individual capacity while taking into account their acquired nurse training. For the nursing in UK registration, the NMC charges a fee for application processing. After registration, the nursing in UK applicant will receive a card that shows their Personal Identification Number.

To be accepted by the NMC, nursing in UK applicants must have first level qualification. Those who possess a second level nursing in UK qualifications are not accepted. These second level qualifications includes licensed practical nurses, nurses who only attended a basic nursing program, staff nurses in South Africa, state certified nurses, community nurses, nursery nurses, vocational nurses in the US, and mother craft nurses.

For nurses living in the United Kingdom but are trained overseas, the best way to upgrade your nursing qualifications to European first level nurse criteria is to attend a school of nursing based at a university that is accredited by the NMC. For a list of all the accredited Educational Institutions by the NMC, click HERE.

For more detailed info on how to practice nursing in UK, just visit their website at www.nmc-uk.org.