Nursing in the UK

Hi Everyone.  I was wondering if there are any nurses who could tell me how difficult it was getting licensed etc. in the UK? How is it different than in the U.S.?   I'm currently finishing my bachelors and plan to marry my boyfriend and move there in approximately a year.  Thank you so much in advance for any info 

Hi there,

I am a nurse too.  American trained, and worked there for 5 years before coming to the UK.  To get my NMC credentials it was just a lot of paperwork and a bit of money to pay the fees.  However, if you don't have experience before working over here, they may make you do something like a guided learning period before they give you a full license.  The medical/hospital systems are completely different.  It's like comparing apples and oranges.  I didn't do any research into the UK system before coming here and was a bit bowled over.  I would recommend learning something about the NHS to avoid feeling so overwhelmed like I did.  Im sorry that I don't have any titles in mind for you, but would be happy to look into it for you or answer any questions you have.

Kathleen

Hi Kathleen

Thank you so very much for answering my post...I knew there had to be some American trained nurses out there!  It's looking as though I'll have no on the job experience when I relocate there (unless they consider clinicals which is unlikely ). I just want to finish my degree and get to Leeds asap to be with DF.   I was wondering if there are any good reference manuals I could read about the difference in drug names etc..  I still have all of that to learn here and thought it may be easier to try and learn both the names at the same time. Again thank you so much for responding and offering your help..it's great to speak to someone who's already gone through it.

Hello and greetings from sunny Leeds!

I am not in the medical profession, but I have a number of doctor/nurse friends working both for the NHS and private practices.  They suggested to have a look at the NHS website, where there is a special section on applying for positions from overseas - it's http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/overseas_cand.html
- the website is good for general info on the NHS.  They all said there is a huge shortage of medical professionals in the UK, so you should be in demand!

From my experiences of private healthcare in the US and public healthcare in the UK, there is a huge difference in terms of patient expectations and hence working practices, but from my observations, nurses seem to have to work really hard for relatively small amounts of money in both countries in both systems (but I guess you know that!).

Here in Leeds, there are several large NHS hospitals, run by the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and a number of private hospitals (Nuffield and BUPA are the main ones).  There are also nursing employment agencies, who should be able to help you find work - see http://www.bupa.co.uk/healthprof/ and http://www.firstpointhealthcare.com/ - although I think they often cannot be bothered with having to go through all the visa stuff - give them a go anyway.

Good luck and hopefully you'll soon be in Leeds!

Thank you, thank you, thank you   I've bookmarked all the links you posted and so appreciate the information.  I was aware of the large teaching hospital in Leeds but wasn't aware of the private institutions etc.,  and you're right about working hard for the money but we do get paid double what UK nurses are paid.  Ah well,  as they say money isn't everything plus the fact that the DF is so adorable more than makes up for monetary loses    I'm counting the days until I'm in Leeds and am so grateful to have found this website and all of you.