Registered Nurse Career Guide: How to Become a Nurse in the UK

Updated 11th March 2026

Registered Nurses are essential to the delivery of safe, compassionate and effective healthcare across the UK. They work across a wide range of specialisms and settings, supporting patients, families and communities at every stage of life.

This guide is for students, career changers and international applicants who want to understand how to become a registered nurse in the UK and what the career really involves.

What Is a Registered Nurse?

A Registered Nurse is a regulated healthcare professional who has completed an approved nursing degree and is registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Nurses assess patient needs, plan and deliver care, administer treatments and medications, and act as patient advocates.

Registered nurses work with people of all ages and backgrounds across physical health, mental health and learning disability services. In the UK, nurses qualify in one of four fields:

• Adult Nursing
• Children’s Nursing
• Mental Health Nursing
• Learning Disability Nursing

Nursing offers a strong sense of purpose, combining clinical expertise with compassion and human connection. It is consistently ranked among the most trusted professions in the UK, and the NMC register includes over 320,000 nurses and midwives.

Common job titles include:

• Registered Nurse
• Staff Nurse
• Charge Nurse / Sister / Charge Nurse
• Clinical Nurse Specialist

What Does a Registered Nurse Do Day to Day?

Common duties include:

• Assessing patients’ physical and mental health
• Planning and delivering personalised care
• Administering medications and treatments
• Supporting patients and families

Clinical responsibilities:

• Monitoring vital signs
• Managing long-term conditions
• Infection prevention and control
• Safeguarding and risk assessment

Multidisciplinary team working:

• Collaborating with doctors, therapists, pharmacists and support workers
• Contributing to care planning and escalation decisions

Patient journey involvement:

• Admission, treatment, recovery and discharge
• Ongoing community or outpatient care

Technology and equipment:

• Electronic patient records
• Monitoring devices
• Specialist clinical equipment depending on field

Shift patterns and environments:

• Days, nights, weekends and bank shifts
• Hospitals, community services, schools, mental health units and patients’ homes

Job descriptions and university profiles are rarely able to truly capture what Registered Nurses do howwever. Sure, they’ll list the key responsibilities along with the required experience and qualifications, but the reality for Staff Nurses is far more complex.

Take your care setting, for example. As a district Nurse or health visitor, you may spend much of your working life in patient’s homes, administering vital care for those unable to visit their GP.

Meanwhile, as an Adult Nurse in a hospital ward, on any given day you could be carrying out blood tests, administering drugs, discharging patients, making referrals, writing care plans and much more besides.

But perhaps more than anything, the state of the UK’s healthcare workforce has to be taken into account. After all, there are more than 40,000 nursing vacancies in the UK – and that vacancy rate is growing.

It would be foolish to ignore how this shortfall might affect the working lives of RGNs in the near future.

Why Become a Registered Nurse?

As of March 2026 there were 793,694 nurses on the permanent NMC register in the UK (find more stats and facts about nursing numbers here). This is up from just under 750,000 in November 2023.

As recently as 2022 a nursing degree was widely considered to be one of the most employable in the UK – 94% of graduates find jobs within six months of finishing their degree. However, in the current employment market, despite wards being in desperate need of nurses, the picture is not as strong for graduate / newly qualified nurses as it was (here's an article on the RCN's website from 2025 about student nurse struggles).

However, we hope and expect this to change once the general economy in the UK picks up - the underyling issues are unchanged: wards, care homes, operating theatres, GPs all need more nurses.

Nursing is as a popular profession because, despite the temporary external impacts currently affecting some recruitment of graduate nurses, the industry still favours the jobseeker and healthcare organisations are in constant demand of experience and qualified nursing staff.

While the concept of a ‘job for life’ might be dwindling slightly in the 21st Century, and is being impacted even more with the threat of AI taking jobs, unprecedented patient demand means that a nursing career offers the kind of security and purpose few others could match.

But there's more to nursing than job security.

It's a highly unusual vocation in that you will spend your working life treating, caring and listening to other humans that you don't know to help them improve their lives.

Yes, every nurse we have ever spoken to also talks about the daily challenges and often thankless nature of their job. But most simply knew they wanted to be a nurse without really thinking about it and can’t imagine doing anything else.

People choose nursing for a variety of personal and professional reasons:

• Making a meaningful difference to people’s lives
• Developing specialist clinical and interpersonal skills
• Working as part of a supportive multidisciplinary team
• Strong job security and national demand
• Flexible career pathways across healthcare sectors

Nursing offers lifelong learning, international opportunities and progression into leadership, education and advanced practice.

If there is part of you that feels really passionate about it, just listen to yourself and go for it, because what's the worst that could happen?

Alex Dobell, Student Nurse

Read Alex's complete blog on why she thinks you should become a Nurse here.

Where Do Registered Nurses Work?

Registered nurses work across a wide range of settings, including:

• NHS Trusts - wards, theatres, clinics, emergency departments
• Private hospitals and healthcare providers
• Community services - GP practices, schools, district nursing
• Mental health and learning disability services
• Agencies, insourcing and specialist centres

Some of our current employers hiring Nurses include:

• Barchester Healthcare
• HCA Healthcare
• Priory
• Sanctuary Personnel

Skills and Qualities Needed

Clinical skills:

• Patient assessment and care planning
• Medication management
• Infection control and safeguarding

Soft and behavioural skills:

• Empathy and compassion
• Communication and teamwork
• Critical thinking and resilience

Technical skills:

• Digital record systems
• Use of specialist clinical equipment

To change your career and become a Nurse you unquestionably need a nursing degree. But being a good nurse, and deciding if it’s the right career for you, is about much more than a qualification.

Nurses, lecturers and experts all widely agree on a few, essential characteristics that it takes to excel in the profession: Care and compassion. Fundamentally, you have to be someone motivated by compassion; someone who gets huge satisfaction from caring for other people. Any decent person cares about other people, but for Nurses, caring defines everything you do, every day.

Resilience

Put simply, there are far easier careers than Nursing. Nursing is a daily test of your character, patience and resilience. It regularly throws up challenges you may not have prepared for, and for obvious reasons it can be very demanding on an emotional level. But of course, that’s also why it can be such a uniquely rewarding career for the right person.

Communication skills

Essentially, Nurses are highly skilled problem solvers. And your ability to solve problems hinges on your speaking and listening skills. You will deal with a huge variety of patients in a wide variety of circumstances. And being able to successfully understand and remedy their problems all comes down to effective communication.

Flexibility

A Nursing career demands flexibility in every sense. Nursing is rarely a 9-5 job, nor is it a job that presents a consistent routine. Daily, your hours, responsibilities and workload could shift. You’ll not only have to be good at multi-tasking – you’ll have to thrive on it.

The 6Cs

As an aspiring Nurse or midwife, it’s worth also noting the NHS’ ‘6Cs’ – which are the values that provide a framework for all Nurses. These are care, compassion, competence, communication, courage and commitment.

Qualifications and Training

A nursing degree is your official ticket to becoming a nurse. But that doesn’t begin to explain why a nursing degree is such a valuable asset for the entirety of your working life.

Should life take you elsewhere, nursing is one of the least rigid career options you could choose. As a qualified nurse, you’ll find work anywhere in the UK. And if you need or want to move abroad, a UK nursing qualification is transferable in almost every country. A nursing degree is your passport to the world.

Flexibility is also a huge advantage for nursing graduates. Whether you want to work full-time or part-time, for the NHS or privately, at a huge hospital or a small community practice, your degree gives you everything need. And because of the abundance of agency and bank work, you can easily decrease your hours or earn more money in a flash. The vast majority of careers seem very rigid in comparison.

There are dozens of other reasons why a nursing degree is such a sound choice for aspiring students, but finally it’s worth spelling out perhaps the most important: as a nurse, you’ll make a difference. How many people can truly say that about their job?

Undergraduate Nursing Degrees

To become a registered nurse, you must complete a three-year NMC-approved nursing degree in one of the four fields:

• Adult
• Children’s
• Mental Health
• Learning Disability

Entry Requirements for a Nursing Degree in the UK

• A-levels or equivalent qualifications
• GCSEs in English and maths (and usually science)
• All Universities set their own criteria for Nursing

NMC Registration

All nurses must register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) before practising in the UK.

Career Change Routes

• Healthcare support worker experience is highly valued
• Access courses and foundation years may be available

Post-Registration Training

• Specialist clinical courses
• Leadership, education and advanced practice qualifications

International Applicants

• NMC registration pathway
• English language requirements
• CBT and OSCE exams

You can find a list of universities offering nursing degrees in our guide.

This A-Z of nursing courses includes all universities and higher education institutions in every corner of the UK that offer nursing degree courses. Each entry details which field of nursing practice the institution teaches.

The majority of nursing degree courses will last three years, but some will last four. You will work on placement. It’s best to check on the relevant course provider’s website.

Nursing Degree Apprenticeships

• Combine academic study with paid employment
• Usually take four years

From September 2017, the government announced the launch of an official nursing apprenticeship.

Like any other apprenticeship, this means that apprentices apply to employers directly, who advertise vacancies. Nursing apprentices then work part-time on a variety of placements, and are released on a part-time basis to study in a higher education institution.

Choosing this route to become a qualified nurse will take four years, rather than three. For more information on nursing apprenticeships, head here.

But whatever route you choose, it’s worth noting that all degrees include work placements every term.

These placements will occur in various care settings, intended to give you some real-life experience of nursing.

The length and timing of each will vary, depending on where you study – but practical work will always form around 50% of your studies. And that is one of the reasons nursing remains a popular degree; it’s nice to get out of the classroom sometimes!

How Long Does It Take To Become a Registered Nurse?

Most UK-trained nurses qualify in three years, combining academic study with clinical placements. Apprenticeships typically take around four years.

International nurses may qualify sooner depending on previous education and the NMC registration process.

How To Successfully Apply For A Nursing And Midwifery Course

Who better to ask than student nurses, since they are the ones who have, obviously, been successful at applying. Here are some articles / videos by our student nurse contributors"

How To Get Into Nursing Schools In The UK

How To Get Into Nursing At University

How To Write A Personal Statement For A Nursing Course Application

What Is It Like To Be A Student Nurse?

Student Nurses say that it is not like being a student of another degree course. For a start, students of nursing tend to actually attend lectures.

Lectures are packed with up to 200 students in one room.

There is a lot of physiological information to learn, and a lot of practical hands-on experience to develop.

Within the University you’ll learn the practical elements in simulation labs, created to look as much like a hospital as possible. In these you’ll learn about giving injections, monitoring obs, moving patients.

And of course, you’ll go on placement. This is where you learn in an actual environment. And you’ll work in a wide variety of patient settings. You’ll be supervised on these and you’ll come away with a Practice Assessment Document which will have been completed by you and your mentor.

How Do Student Nurses Fund And Pay For Their Degree Course?

Having been controversially removed in 2016, NHS bursaries were reintroduced from September 2020. However, the funding system has again been altered, and Nurses no longer get what was known as the bursary.

(We have information here on the bursary and how you can apply for it.)

All student nurses now get a £5000 a year maintenance grant, and some further funding may be available depending on your specific circumstances. Tuition fees are not covered.

Student loans are available through the Student Loans Company, and funding for things like childcare and travel expenses can be accessed through the Learning Support Fund.

It’s also very common for nurses to register for bank healthcare assistant roles (we have Healthcare Assistant jobs on our sister site, Healthjobs.co.uk). These positions are inevitably very relevant to your studies, and the flexibility is a big asset with an already busy schedule.

Finally, don’t forget that Nursing apprenticeships do offer an alternative route into nursing, where available – and a route that will offer some guaranteed income.

Student Nurse Survival: Video Tips To Help With Nursing Exams, Revision And Placements

Wondering about how to prepare for your nursing exams, or in need of nursing placement tips? Here are some really handy videos with tips and hacks for student nurses.

Studying Nursing? 6 Nurses Give Advice

Advice from a qualified nurse mentor to student nurses

How to get the most out of your student nurse experience

What do I need for nursing school?

How to revise effectively and manage your stress levels

Top nursing school essentials

How to study and prepare for nursing exams

Exam and assignment tips from a student nurse

Nursing placements advice

How to survive your placement

Training to be a Mental Health Nurse

Student nurse survival guide

Nursing school 'must haves'

What Are The Four Branches Of Nursing That I Can Choose From?

Your first big decision to make is which field of practice in nursing you want to pursue. Essentially, there are four fields of nursing practice to choose from:

• Adult Nursing
• Mental Health Nursing
• Children's Nursing
• Learning Disability Nursing

While some Universities offer ‘dual field’ degrees, it makes sense to focus on one area.

Many Universities that offer nursing courses will offer all of these options – but some will only offer one or two. So when you come to deciding what and where to study, be sure to check carefully. Our Nursing degree directory, which lists all the Universities that offer nursing degrees, is a great place to start.

What Are The Career Options For A Newly Qualified Nurse?

The majority of qualified nurses take up permanent positions within the NHS related to their field of study. But that doesn’t paint a full picture of what’s on offer in your ongoing career.

Firstly, you’ll have a huge amount of choice in terms of precisely where you might want to work. You may well work in a major hospital ward, or you might operate in an outpatient unit. You might end up in a specialist department, or a GP surgery. You could even work in a clinic, in the community, an NHS walk-in centre or a Nursing home.

Secondly, there are many rungs of the Nursing ladder to climb if you wish to. Once graduated, you can soon work towards specialising, or becoming an Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Matron or Nurse Consultant.

Qualified nurses are vital within many other environments too. For example prisons, schools and the police service all regularly employ different kinds of nurses, whose support alongside other healthcare professionals is essential. Even cruise ships need nurses – so the sky really is the limit once you’ve qualified.

Working in the private sector as a nurse

Then there’s the private sector. The NHS is often cited as the fifth largest employer on the planet, and that makes it inevitably your first port of call. But many nurses choose the private sector for a variety of reasons.

Chief among them is the fact that private healthcare providers are so much smaller than the NHS. This often means less bureaucracy, lighter caseloads and ultimately a bit more time to provide dedicated, personalised care.

Private nursing jobs are often also more flexible than NHS positions. The huge demands facing the NHS can mean that it’s hard to take holiday exactly when you want to, for example. And that tends not to be the case with private providers.

But it’s also worth noting that private Nursing jobs don’t necessarily offer a higher salary. In fact the starting salaries can sometimes be worse, because private providers aren’t subject to the same guidelines as public organisations. Pay inevitably varies more within less regulated private companies.

Working flexibly: bank and agency work

You’ll also become familiar with the terms ‘bank work’ and ‘agency work’ as soon as you enter the world of nursing.

Essentially, a ‘bank’ is a rota of nursing shifts and temporary workers that’s managed by an NHS trust (which could comprise a number of different hospitals or institutions in a specific geographic area). As a nurse, being registered to a bank gives you freedom over which shifts you choose – which for many people is a huge benefit. It also allows you to easily trial working at different locations or within different specialisms. Bank work is therefore a great way of developing your career, working flexibly or earning some extra money.

Meanwhile, ‘agency’ work essentially means registering with a recruitment agency that then finds shifts that suit you. Typically, agency work offers a slightly higher salary than a full-time NHS position – although it doesn’t offer the same security or permanence. Once again, it’s a popular choice for those seeking flexibility.

What Are The Types Of Jobs Available In Adult Nursing?

Adult Nursing offers the broadest range of nursing roles available across the NHS and private institutions. In fact, 80% of all Nurses on the NMC Register in the UK are Adult Nurses.

Here’s a brief guide to some of the most common - followed by a number of articles written by our own nursing network, which explore specific roles in far more detail.

Acute Settings Nurse

Acute care falls under secondary care - the stage after primary care (when a patient makes first contact with medical professionals). Acute care involves the treatment of patients with short term but serious conditions and might take place in settings like Accident & Emergency, Intensive Care and Neonatal Care.

As within other settings, Nurses here typically provide assessments, monitor patients, administer medication and develop ongoing care plans.

A&E Nurse

A&E Nurses are probably the most common and well-known nursing roles. They work in emergency departments in hospitals and are typically the first point of contact for patients.

It’s a high pressure job that involves everything from initial assessments through to early treatment plans. Broadly, this role is all about making patients feel comfortable after the initial shock of their ailment. Unsurprisingly, A&E Nurses are currently in high demand.

Theatre Nurse

Theatre Nurses or Surgical Nurses offer support to patients and surgeons during perioperative care. Perioperative care may involve anesthetics, surgery and recovery.

Therefore, responsibilities typically include everything from supporting an anesthetist, preparing and managing surgical instruments and equipment, and supporting the patient through the recovery phase.

Intensive Care Nurse

An Intensive Care Nurse or ICU Nurse provides care to critically ill patients. You could work in a variety of settings, but the most common are Intensive Care Units, Surgical Intensive Care Units or Trauma Intensive Care Units.

Within these settings, you’ll likely support far fewer patients than on a general ward, because of the seriousness and complexity of the conditions. Needless to say, it can be a very rewarding but emotionally demanding job.

Care Home Nurse

Care Home Nurses are typically responsible for patient’s health and medical histories. They will therefore perform similar duties to those on a ward, including administering medication, monitoring blood pressure and sugar levels, and consulting with doctors.

Palliative Care Nurse

Palliative Care Nurses can work in a variety of settings, and it generally involves supporting the terminally ill. Therefore, the focus is on pain relief and comfort.

Palliative care nurses must strike a balance between relieving pain and not over-sedating patients, and work closely with friends and family of patients to provide emotional support.

Practice Nurse

A Practice Nurse or General Practice Nurse works at GP surgeries as part of a primary care team that could also include pharmacists or dieticians. Depending on the size of a practice, you could work alone or with a large team of Nurses.

You could be involved in everything from taking blood samples and providing vaccinations to health screening and dealing with minor wounds.

District Nurse

District Nurses also play a key role in primary care teams. They visit people in their own homes or care homes, assessing healthcare plans and monitoring the quality of care.

Patients can be any age but will typically be elderly. As well as directly delivering care, a large part of the role includes teaching patients how to manage their own plans and improve their own health.

It’s a very different role to an on-ward nurse and is a great example of the variety of career options on offer for qualified Nurses.

Cosmetic Nurse

Cosmetic Nurses inevitably tend to work outside the public sector. Much like a Theatre Nurse, you’ll be supporting surgery – so providing clinical support, preparing and managing instruments and equipment, and supporting anesthetists and doctors.

Many Cosmetic Nurses move across from the NHS, attracted to a private sector role that can offer certain benefits and freedoms. Typically, the nature of this type of nursing is fundamentally different; after all, you’re largely dealing with people who choose to be here.

Research Nurse

Research Nurses help to conduct scientific research into various aspects of healthcare. Research Nurses therefore often work in a variety of settings, including medical research organisations, pharmaceutical laboratories, hospitals and universities.

Research Nurses do a wide variety of tasks, from planning and securing funding for studies to implementing research and analysing data.

Nurse Assessor

A Nurse Assessor typically provides an impartial assessment of people with disabilities or specific healthcare needs. Nurse Assessors then work closely with a range of medical and local government professionals to put together a healthcare plan, which is often structured around the patient’s home.

Oncology Nurse

An Oncology Nurse cares for and supports patients with cancer. Oncology Nurses work in a variety of care settings and typically as part of a multi-disciplinary team.

Their responsibilities include treatment assessments, support through chemotherapy, and coordinating various aspects of cancer treatments. Oncology Nurses therefore require highly specialised knowledge, as they’ll need to understand pathology results and all the potential side effects of cancer treatments.

Find out more about what you can become as a nurse in this short guide by one of our contributors, Laura Pueyo.

Registered Nurse Salary and Pay Bands

NHS Agenda for Change:

• Band 5 (newly qualified): £28,407 – £34,581
• Band 6 (experienced/specialist): £35,392 – £42,618
• Band 7+ (leadership and advanced roles)

Additional pay:

• London weighting
• Night and weekend enhancements
• Bank and agency rates

Private sector pay varies by employer and role.

Career Progression and Specialisms

Typical progression pathway:

• Newly Qualified Nurse
• Experienced Staff Nurse
• Specialist or Senior Nurse
• Ward Manager, Service Lead or Consultant Nurse

Specialist areas include:

• Critical care
• Paediatrics
• Mental health services
• Community and public health
• Education and research

We are always learning, we are always training, and if you get to a point where you think you know it all, nursing's probably not for you anymore because nobody knows it all.

Claire Carmichael, Registered Nurse.

Read Claire's full article on planning your career progression as a Nurse here.

Pros and Cons of Being a Registered Nurse

Pros:

+ Purpose-driven and respected career

+ Job security and progression

+ Variety of roles and settings

Cons:

- Emotional and physical demands

- Shift work and staffing pressures

- High levels of responsibility

Now, Nursing is amazing, I love it and I think it's probably one of the most rewarding jobs to do.

Debbie Olusola, GP Nurse

You can read Debbie's complete blog on the questions you should ask yourself before embarking on what can be both a rewarding and challenging role here.

Is a Registered Nurse Career Right for You?

Nursing could be a good fit if you:

• Enjoy hands-on, people-focused work
• Can manage pressure and responsibility
• Value teamwork, learning and compassion

What Challenges Face Nurses?

Nurses face a combination of rising patient demand and a shrinking workforce, creating significant pressure on healthcare services. Persistent staff shortages exist alongside growing use of emergency and hospital services. Changes to financial support for nursing students reduced applications, particularly among mature students, and although some support has returned, recruitment and retention remain uncertain. International workforce changes have also contributed to staffing challenges.

The nature of nursing work is becoming more complex. Patients are not only more numerous but are staying longer and requiring more intensive care, largely due to an ageing population and higher rates of chronic illness. Older patients typically need more sustained nursing support, increasing workload and resource demands.

Pay and working conditions remain a major source of tension, with regular disputes and dissatisfaction among nurses and unions. At the same time, funding pressures have intensified, as growth in healthcare funding has not kept pace with increasing demand.

Looking ahead, policy decisions and rapid technological advances will significantly reshape nursing. Developments in artificial intelligence, robotics, genomics, and digital systems are expected to transform diagnosis, treatment, and everyday nursing practice. Overall, nurses, particularly adult nurses, will need to adapt to substantial changes in workforce conditions, patient needs, technology, and policy.

How to Apply for Registered Nurse Jobs

• Set up job alerts for nursing vacancies
• Create or update your nursing CV
• Register to apply for NHS, private and agency roles

FAQs About Becoming a Registered Nurse

Can you become a registered nurse without a degree?

No, all UK nurses must complete an NMC-approved degree or degree apprenticeship.

Do newly qualified nurses start as registered nurses?

Yes, once registered with the NMC, graduates start in registered nurse roles.

Are there part-time or flexible nursing roles?

Yes, many employers offer part-time, flexible and bank roles.

Can international nurses work as registered nurses in the UK?

Yes, subject to NMC registration and English language requirements.

Do nurses have to specialise?

No, but most nurses develop a specialty over time.

Is nursing a stressful career?

It can be demanding, but many nurses find it deeply rewarding.

How Long Have We Been Training Nurses In The UK?

Nursing as a respected, qualification-backed profession has progressed consistently since the mid-nineteenth century.

From Florence Nightingale’s pioneering work to the move to degree-only qualification, it’s been quite a journey for the UK’s Nurses and Midwives.

This timeline spells out some of the key milestones:

1860: The Nightingale Training School opens at St Thomas’ Hospital in London – one of the first institutions to teach Nursing and midwifery as a formal profession

1887: British Nurses Association created – allowing Nurses to seek professional registration

Early 1900s: More hospitals establish their own training schools – Nurses are trained in exchange for two or three years of free Nursing care

1916: Royal College of Nursing (RCN) founded

1948: NHS established – leading to a huge surge in Nursing recruitment

1972: Degree preparation of Nurses is suggested for the first time by the Briggs Committee

1983: United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting sets up a new professional register with four branches (Mental Health, Children, Learning Disability and Adult)

1986: Project 2000 sets out the shift to diploma level training based in Universities rather than hospital-based schools

2004: RCN votes for degree-only preparation

2008: Nursing officially becomes a degree-only profession

What Does The Future Of Nursing In The UK Look Like?

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock on Mars you’ll have seen many headlines about Nursing and the NHS over the last few years that have not been entirely positive.

The NHS is currently facing a variety of significant challenges. In a nutshell, patient demand is at an unprecedented level, largely due to our growing population – and more specifically, our ageing population. When the NHS was created in 1948, life expectancy was 13 years shorter than now.

Furthermore, as a result of our ageing population, a growing number of people are living with long-term chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease or dementia that require regular, dedicated care.

In short, more Nurses are needed across the board – and the stats support this. In September 2018, record levels of nursing vacancies and a shortage of 43,000 registered Nurses were reported. But shortly afterwards, it was also reported that the number of new Nursing students starting courses had fallen by more than 500 compared to a year earlier.

For anyone considering a career in nursing in the UK, these headlines might seem alarming – but in many ways, it’s all good news. For a newly qualified nurse, as we've said, there are currently challenges. But we expect these to be temporary and, once qualify and with 6+ months experience, you’ll have a huge variety of options about where and how you work, and you’ll have unrivalled job security. And while there will also be pressures, there will be rewards too.

It’s widely agreed that Nursing salaries and benefits could increase in the coming years in light of how desperate the UK is for qualified Nurses. In the current climate, nurses hold a great deal of power. So this could be the perfect time to take the leap and study nursing.

Resources and Further Reading

These will help you if you’re about to look for your first job as a Newly Qualified Nurse.

• Newly Registered Nurses: 6 Nurses Give Advice
• Tips & Advice For Newly Registered Nurses
• Advice for newly qualified Nurses
• What you should expect from preceptorship as a newly qualified nurse
• How to write your CV as a third year student nurse applying for your first nursing job
• How to use your nursing course and placement experience in your first nursing job interview
• Sara Davies - how nursing degrees prepare students for jobsNewly qualified nursing experiencesHow to write a nursing personal statement for your first nurse job application

General:

• The Complete Guide To Answering Nursing Interview Questions
• How To Return To Professional Nursing Or Midwifery Practice After A Career Break
• Thinking About A Different Nursing Pathway?
• Liane, Cardiac Cath Lab Nurse: Her Career Journey Through Teamwork & Technical Skills
• How To Write A Cover Letter For A Nursing Job Application

Useful External Links

• NHS bursary reform
• NHS bursaries
• Scottish Government - Support for Student Nurses and Midwives
• Nursing apprenticeships