NURSING & MIDWIFERY IN THE UK

Nurse Recruitment Information

Registering to practise as a nurse or midwife in the United Kingdom

Overseas trained nurses or midwives wanting to work in the UK must register with the NMC. The Nursing & Midwifery Council register consists of three parts.
 Nurses
 Midwives
 Specialist community public health nurses (SCPHN).
The nurses part of the register is divided into four fields of practice.
 Adult nursing
 Mental health nursing
 Learning disabilities nursing
 Children’s nursing.

Applicants can apply to be on the nurses or midwives parts of the register, as long as they meet our standards. If an applicant has trained as a general nurse, they should apply for registration with us as an adult nurse.
If applicants want to register on more than one part of the register or field of practice, they should apply for each part/field at the same time.

All nurses and midwives registered with the NMC are required to practise in accordance with our rules and standards, including The Code: Standards of conduct, performance, and ethics for nurses and midwives (NMC, 2015) (the Code), and to renew their registration annually.

Types of nurses required
 Newly Qualified – MUST have recently gained nursing qualification
 Experienced Nurses – MUST have work experience as a fully registered nurse working in a hospital or care home

Requirements for applying to join the register

Language requirement
Applicants must be able to show that they can communicate clearly and effectively in English. They must complete the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and achieve a minimum score of at least seven in all areas.

Applicants may provide two IELTS test certificates to meet the above requirements, but must not have scored below 6.5 in any categories, in either of the test sittings.
The two test sittings must be taken within six months of each other to be considered.
There are no exceptions to this requirement, even if English is their first language.
We will verify the scores with the IELTS organisation. Please note that we will not accept IELTS test results that are more than two years old at the time the registration application is submitted.

 IELTS – 6.5 MINIMUM in writing and 7.0 in Reading, Listening and Speaking. Results must be WITHIN the last 2 years. If older than this, nurse MUST do a new exam. WILL NEED TO PROVIDE PROOF OF RESULTS

NOTE

 Nursing Degree/Diploma – If gained within the last 2 years and taught in English, this will exempt them from having to take the English Language exam. If nurse gained qualification OVER 2 years ago then they will need to take the English Language exam. WILL NEED TO PROVIDE PROOF OF NURSING QUALIFICATION.

Practice requirements

At the time of the application, the applicant must have practised as a registered nurse or midwife for at least 12 months (full time or the part-time equivalent) after qualifying. This post-registration experience must be relevant to the field of practice the applicant is applying for. Any practice that is not covered by registration cannot be considered for the requirement of 12-month post-registration experience.  If the applicant is a midwife but has not practised midwifery in the five years prior to their application, they must do a return to midwifery practice course in their home country before they can apply to register with us.

Registration requirements

Applicants must hold a current registration or licence without restriction with the licensing authority or registration body in the country in which they qualified or have been practising.

If applicants have worked as a nurse or midwife in more than one country or state, we require them to be registered with the licensing authority or registration body in all the countries/states where they have worked. We will require verification from that authority regardless of the length of their employment.

Applicants must provide the details of all practice undertaken as a registered nurse or midwife including verification documents and registration certificates.

 Work Experience – No minimum required. We can place candidates that are newly qualified as nurses
 Registration – MUST be registered with the Nursing Council of their home country. WILL NEED TO PROVIDE PROOF OF REGISTRATION
 Valid Passport – If a nurse doesn’t have a valid passport, they MUST apply for one ASAP

Education requirements

Applicants must have successfully completed at least 10 years of school education before starting a post-secondary education nursing or midwifery training programme, leading to registration in their home country as an entry-level registered nurse or midwife.