NMC Decision Letter granted for ONP APR 2014 but haven't found a placement yet

[iamfatsogracia, BSN]

Hi all!

I am new here in Allnurses and I am needing your advice. I have been in the UK since June 2009, first came here as a student and have been a registered nurse in the Philippines since June 2007. My brother came here 6 months before me, also on a student visa, and he's also a nurse from PI. He fortunately got through with ONP and granted his PIN sometime in 2011. I, on the other hand, went on a different route. I got married and had a child. I passed my IELTS in 2013, processed the NMC application and received the decision letter in April 2014 and was expected to do a minimum of 6 months adaptation as I have been out of the Philippines for more than three years on the onset of my application. I was supposed to do my ONP with Northampton University last September 2014 and two days before my enrollment, my ONP mentor, who was the manager of one of the nursing homes of Bupa here in the South, backed out because she cannot commit to have me supervised 20-25hrs/week for 6 months! Imagine my dismay! Anyway, I left Bupa in October because I can't handle being there after they duped me. I then applied with one of the biggest NHS Trust hospitals here down south and I got accepted to work as HCA in Trauma&Orthopaedics. As you know, NHS application process takes ages so I just started working last Monday, 05 January 2015. I love my ward, I love my colleagues and I liked the idea of re-learning the ways in the hospital settings and learning new stuff that we don't do in the Philippines. However, I found out that the department I am in at the moment does not support ONP. I was advised to do internal transfer and apply (same long process) and hope to the high heavens I get accepted. What I am concerned about is that NMC is giving me a deadline. Since I received my letter before October 2014, I have the option to choose between doing the ONP or taking up the two sets of exams (theory and OSCE). I cannot have both and since I haven't found a placement yet, I am scared to lose my chances of doing the exams if I stick to looking for an area who I will take ONP with. NMC wanted me to let them know before 31 January 2015 if I decide to go ahead with ONP and lose the chance of doing the exams. If I tell them after the 31st, I will have to reapply AGAIN and will be re-assessed AGAIN. I don't know what to do! No one can tell me where to go to and what to do next. I don't know if we are allowed to apply as Band 5 in special areas even if we do not have the PIN yet, or are we? Can someone enlighten me please? I don't have any visa problems as I am a UK resident already. I thought that once I become a resident, it'll be easier to land a nursing career! Good gracious! How wrong can I be?

Thanks for reading this and hope to hear from people who can help or maybe who are on the same boat as me!

[gen88]

I sympathise with you, they like to make it difficult. It sounds as though you really enjoy your current position, yet they don't offer ONP. If I were you, I would really just go with the new method...which involves a computer test (half day- would be easy for you as you've been a nurse for a while, cost is around £130) and then the OSCE which is actually at Uni of Northampton at a cost of around £1000. Perhaps see if your ward can help you out in terms of money? Then after that you just need to do ID check at NMC office and then you have the PIN. I personally think it would be a nightmare trying to find an ONP spot- would they even pay you RN rates, or at all?

Me personally I got my decision letter March 2014, and I'm going with the new route.

Good luck :)

[iamfatsogracia, BSN]

Thanks for the insight! Yeah, I might as well take the new route. I don't think I have any other options! LOL :) They (my new colleagues) offered to help me if I have any difficulty anyway. In a way, I feel lucky to be in my new department.

Best of luck to all of us aspirant nurses in the UK! xxx