All nurses who received their training outside the United Kingdom or the European Union and applied to the Nursing and Midwifery Council to work in the U.K. after 1st September 2005, must enrol on the new Overseas Nurses Programme to qualify for registration. The ONP instruction is conducted by the nursing faculties or schools of universities approved by the NMC for the purpose.
Pre-requisites for enrolment are the following : |
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1. |
An IELTS overall score of 6.5 on the academic module with a minimum of 5.5 in Listening and Reading, and minimum of 6.00 in Writing and Speaking.
note: after 1st February 2007, applicants for NMC registration must achieve an overall score of 7.0 to qualify with no less than 7.0 in each section. |
2. |
A Diploma in Nursing (or equivalent or higher) and a minimum of one year post-graduate working experience. |
The ONP consists of twenty days of combined classroom instruction and private study (referred to as “protected learning”) to be taken in conjunction with a period of supervised practice in a university approved nursing home. The protected learning sessions will be conducted by the university lecturer at a venue convenient to the location of the clinical practice. A Pre-Adaptation course is provided at the college prior to commencement of the ONP in order to help students become familiar with British customs, culture and the nursing profession in the UK and to improve their language and computer skills.
Nurses will be expected to undergo supervised practice at nursing homes approved by the universities to ensure that the clinical training is of a sufficiently high standard to enable the students to achieve the competencies expected by the NMC.
Student nurses can expect to receive a salary of not less than GBP 500 per month during the length of their adaptation which may take anywhere from three to nine months depending upon students’ rates of progress and NMC regulations. The NMC decision letter which is sent to every applicant will specify the minimum qualifications and period of time for supervised practice.
Further information may be obtained from the Nursing and Midwifery Council website at www.nmc-uk.org. Successful completion of the ONP leads to full registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council and entitles the nurse to work anywhere in the United Kingdom in a health care setting appropriate to the nurse’s training.
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