Nursing is among the most rewarding careers in the healthcare sector. If you’re passionate about helping people and being on the front lines of patient care, nursing is the perfect healthcare job for you! Nurses are the largest group of healthcare staff in the NHS, and there’s always a need for more nurses. Nurses are integral to the healthcare sector, and there’s a lot of growth in the nursing career path. We’re here to help answer your question on how to become a nurse in the UK!
There are numerous benefits to pursuing a career in nursing, especially in the UK, where nursing is considered one of the most respected professions. You receive financial support, and there’s little to no chance that you won’t find a job as soon as you become a registered nurse! Before we get started, let’s take a look at the roles and responsibilities of a nurse.
Roles & Responsibilities Of A Nurse
Although there are different job descriptions for each nursing specialisation, a basic set of roles and responsibilities are a part of the nursing profession, no matter the field you’re specialised in. Take a look:
- Listening to patients about their problems and requirements.
- Conducting various assessments as needed.
- Consulting with the doctors to plan the best course of care.
- Monitoring the patient’s progress.
- Applying dressings if needed.
- Administering prescribed medication.
- Cleaning and dressing the wounds if needed.
- Advising patients and their families about self-treatment and different therapies.
- Arranging follow-up visits and treatments for the patient if needed.
So, these are the general roles and responsibilities are nurse is tasked with. We highlighted these for you to help you understand if nursing is the right fit for you. Now let’s look into the qualifications you need to become a nurse in the UK.
Nurse Qualifications In The UK
The first step in answering the question of how to become a nurse in the UK you need to have a nursing degree. Your nursing degree can be specialised in any of the following fields:
- Adult nursing
- Child nursing
- Mental health nursing
- Learning disability nursing
Once you’ve picked out what specialisation you want your nursing degree in, you can enrol yourself in any one of them and upon completion, you’ll be eligible to work as a nurse!
If you can’t enrol yourself in a full-time nursing course at a university, you can choose to find a registered nurse degree apprenticeship (RNDA) that allows you to study your nursing course part-time at a university.
Another way of becoming a nurse in the UK is to find a nursing associate position. This grants you the opportunity to receive on-the-job training from registered nurses and to work towards qualifying as a registered nurse yourself! There are various trainee roles available that can help you progress towards becoming a fully qualified nurse without getting a degree from the university.
Let’s look into the benefits and salary you’ll be looking at as an NHS-qualified nurse.
Benefits & Salary Of A Nurse In The UK
There is ample room to grow in the nursing career, and you certainly receive a lot of benefits. Starting with the financial support you receive during university. During your nursing degree, you receive £5000 annually to help fund your studies. This isn’t a loan from the government, which means you don’t have to pay it back.
As an NHS-qualified nurse, you also get a rewarding salary depending on your experience. As a newly qualified nurse, you will start at band 5, meaning that you’ll earn £27,055 at the start. As you gain more experience, you’ll climb up to band 6, then band 7 and band 8, until you reach the nurse consultant position at band 9, which starts at £95,135 and reaches £109,475.
You’ll be working 37.5 hours a week in divided shifts. You’re also entitled to 27 annual holidays on top of bank holidays.
So, these are the benefits and the salary you can expect to work as a nurse in the UK.
Conclusion
Nursing is among the most respected and rewarding careers in the healthcare industry, there’s room to grow, and there are several benefits of working as a nurse in the UK. The profession itself is noble because you get to make a significant difference in your patients’ lives, and you have the chance to really care for your patients and be there for them through tough times. This article is intended to help answer the question of how to become a nurse in the UK. Hopefully, we have provided you with all the information you need to work towards becoming a registered nurse in the UK! If you need help finding the perfect nursing job for you, you can get in touch with our nurse recruitment specialists. Primus Recruitment is the number 1 healthcare recruitment company in the UK!
