nero

I am thinking of returning to Nursing after 9 years away! The NMC say I have to return to the UK to do a UK return to nursing course as they do not recognise the NZ return to nursing course

As I have been out of nursing for over 5 years the Nursing Council for NZ say I have to first get registered in the UK

Has anyone else out there been in my predicament? If so what did you do? Did you get recognition for prior learning on a undergraduate course or did you just fly home?

bourbon-biscuit

Sounds tricky- have you posted this on the nurses forum? It might get more exposure to people familiar with this conundrum. Good luck

nero

Is this the Nurses Forum on the Expat site or somewhere else? Thanks for your help

trogg

I'd like to know too, please and any info on particular nursing forums for NZ would be greatly appreciated. Is there one here?
Extreme newbie to all this
Trogg

bourbon-biscuit

Here you go:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=72

Not specific to New Zealand, but is to nurses/nursing

nero

Thanks much appreciated

trogg

And thanks for me too

becky667

Hi to you all

Nero I hope you manage to get this sorted out.

A few ideas that I had:

* Is there a open university or other distance learning course availible that will cover it. If its UK based then the NMC will recognise it.

* The other option I thought about is doing the course in NZ and then getting it accredited by a university in the UK. This is by way of an APEL claim where you write a short piece proving the course is relevent - if the university accepts the there should be no problem with the NMC.

I think they may be worth exploring - if you do the course in the UK it runs over 3-6 months (my mum did it a few years ago)

Good luck

Becky

nero

I am in the process of trying to get hold of someone at one of the Universities in Auckland to see if I can get regonition for my prior learning and just to have a chat. I will also check out the other options you suggested Becky. If I get a breakthrough I will post it, so others can use this.
Thanks again

becky667

Good Luck

Becky x

trogg

let us know how you get on. Be interesting to see if there's any room for flexibility.
Fingers crossed

Simon

nero

OK here is the reality for me - the response comes from the Nursing Leader at one of the Auckland College of Nursing equivalent.

It is quite a complex situation you find yourself in and I am not sure that what I can tell you will help significantly. The undergraduate programme is a 3 year full time programme of study incl theory/clinical. We have a process for assessment of prior learning through an onsite MIT provider - CAPL. However this process has a cost attached and requires you to have full documentation from your previous nursing education and experience so that each learning outcome of our BN programme can be matched to what you have previously done. If any clinical courses in the second year are considered for recognition of prior learning then this needs approval from NZNC so the best case scenario is that you need to do a full year as a student with us. The cost of this entire process may be worth as much as your airfares back to the UK perhaps.............it is hard to tell but fees for 2 x 60 credit semesters are around $4,600 and there would be the fees for the process with CAPL.

The morale of this story is if you wish to return to nursing and you are thinking of coming to NZ get it sorted out before you step onto the plane. If I receive any more positive info naturally I will let you guys know.

trogg

Just found this link to the nmc, when did it stop being the UKCC

http://www.nmc-uk.org/aArticle.aspx?ArticleID=2794

And I've just found out that you're only registered for a year nowadays not the 3 that I thought! I've got early onset....er....something

The only option seems to be returning to the UK

nero

UKCC changed its name a while back.

I have got a slither of light at the end of the tunnel but the plan is a prototype and another candidate is being taken through this with NCNZ and a Auckland Nursing College, I will not know if this works for a while. If successful I will try and follow the same pathway which basically looks at prior learning (credits that) with the possibility of you still having to sit a course (return to nursing) and sitting the state exams! I am meeting with the college on Monday so may be ablet to give you a better idea of the plan then.

Hope this helps

trogg

Hi Nero,
I just got this back from the NCMZ.

"Thank you for your email. I presume that you are registered in the UK are you? You are right; we would ask that you have recency of practice before you register with the NZ Nursing Council. You can not enrol in a Back to Nursing (officially called a Competence Assessment Programme) unless you are able to register here and that would not be possible if you do not have recency of practice.

The 60 hours and the 450 practice hours that you are thinking about are what a registered nurse here has to declare that s/he has done when they apply for their practising certificate every year. They are asked to declare if they have done 450 hours of practice over a 3 year period and 60 hours of professional development over a 3 year period"

So I'm going to have to go back to the UK to make this happen. 4 months living with my in-laws

Good luck with the prototype!