16 Dec 2025 ● Matt Farrah

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

Updated 28 January 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.

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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?

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:

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

Qualifications and Training

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

A-levels or equivalent qualifications
GCSEs in English and maths (and usually science)

NMC Registration

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

Nursing Degree Apprenticeships

Combine academic study with paid employment
Usually take four years

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

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.

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.

Nursing Home Nurse

Nursing 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.

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.

Nursing Pay Guide

Find out more information about pay in our Nursing Pay Guide which you can jump into for a full, deep dive into salary and pay rates for this job role. We keep all of our pages up to date, using trusted sources and humans, so this is accurate information

Nursing Pay Guide

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.