Nurses for UK without experience?

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Hi Everyone,

I am very interested to apply for a nurse position in the UK. I have no hospital experience but I have 5 years experience in occupational health nursing and clinic management. I also have a master's degree in nursing.

I found an agency and they said this is enough and I just have to take an IELTS with grade of 7 in all category, though I can;t help but wonder if IELTS is really enough as most ads in the internet said I need a hospital experience to work as a nurse in the UK.

Hoping for your kind advice.

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First of all you would need to apply for to the Nursing and Midwifery Council for UK registration. This can take months and I gather that it isn't all that straight forward for US educated nurses.

It depends where you want to work but the large inner city trust I work for recruits nurses from the EU and India directly. It also offers return to acute care positions for those who you haven't got recent hospital experience. You don't have to go through an agency, you can apply directly.

Nurses in the UK don't generally earn as much as their US counterparts but they do get great benefits.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Moved to International Nursing.

as long as the experience is as a RN it doesn't have to be hospital nursing. Suggest checking out requirements for International trained nurses on the NMC website as well as posts in the Nurse Registration forum re NMC

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In order for you to work as a nurse in the uk, u have to register under the Nursing and Midwifery Council (as the others have suggested, check their website out to get an overview of the process). I had the same dilemma last month so i had emailed the nmc. After a few weeks, they had replied and told me their requirement is that you should have 12 months of registered nursing practice, REGARDLESS of which field you worked in. Once you are on the NMC register, it will be up to your prospective employer to decide if you are qualified for the role they are hiring for. :-)

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