Key Features
Aligned with NHS career framework
Part Time
You choose the focus of your learning
Designed for practitioners
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Key Information
Programme Type
Short Course
Delivery
Blended learning
Award
15 UG Credits
Cost
NHS England funded
Next Start Date
October 2025
Course Overview
This course is aimed at nurses who wish to re-register to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and return to clinical practice.
The national return-to-practice initiative recognises that those returning healthcare professionals have a key role to play in ensuring patients and service users have access to experienced and well-trained care staff equipped with the right skills.
With the support of NHS England, practice supervisors, assessors, and academic supervision, we intend to provide you with access to modern facilities to help you identify your individual learning needs, and redevelop your clinical skills and specialist knowledge to re-start your nursing career. Currently we offer opportunities for those who had been registered within the adult, child, and/or mental health fields of nursing.
How You Study
The programme takes a blended learning approach with a combination of face-to-face delivery, on-line learning sessions, directed learning, and workbooks which are designed to compliment your learning and refresh your previous knowledge and practice.
The taught elements of the programme are scheduled for two days per week for four weeks. On two of these days, you are required to attend university at the Bayford campus. The remainder of the sessions are live online sessions and a one day asynchronous online work before the practice element of the programme begins.
You will need to undertake a minimum of 150 hours and up to 450 hours in a practice placement and complete a minimum of 15 hours per week (this equates to two shorter days of 7.5 hours each or one long day per week).
Entry Requirements 2025-26
Entry Requirements
An applicant must have previously been on the Nursing Register and had their registration lapse following a period of three years or more. The School of Health and Care Sciences will check all applicants' prior registration status and conditions of re-entry to the Register as part of the application screening process, to ensure that the applicant is able to successfully return to the Register upon completion of the programme.
Certain conditions which may have been placed on an applicant from remaining on the register may prevent them entry to the programme. This will be reviewed as part of a Fitness to Proceed process. The successful completion of a Return to Practice programme would only enable an applicant to return to the part of the register they were previously on.
or
They may be nurses seeking readmission to the register, who have practised for fewer than 750 hours in the previous five years, or 450 hours in the three years before their application for readmission to the register.
Applicants will be asked to provide their NMC PIN as part of the application process.
Satisfactory completion of a Declaration of Suitability Form
Satisfactory clearance from Occupational Health
Satisfactory reference
For more information please contact Programme Leader Kerry Welch be emailing kwelch@lincoln.ac.uk.
How you are assessed
Learning is assessed by a Practice Assessment Document (PAD) which is a competency-based document that is assessed in practice with the support of an allocated practice supervisor and assessor.
The PAD also includes practical assessments called Episodes of Care (EoC), a medicines management assessment, and professional values.
The theoretical aspects of the programme are assessed through the completion of mandatory training and the submission of a 3,000-word portfolio, which comprises of four reflections from your practice experiences that focus on the Nursing and Midwifery Council's Code of Conduct (2018) and the 4P's approach. You can find the Council's code on their website: https://www.nmc.org.uk/standards/code/read-the-code-online/
Fees and Funding
The programme fees are paid for by NHS England and the learner does not need to contribute to the costs of the programme.
A uniform (where appropriate) is supplied by the university and each learner is eligible to claim for £1,000 from NHS England to help with costs of travel and subsistence while on the programme.
Key Contacts
If you have questions about this course, please get in touch with one of the listed below:
Kerry Welch
Senior Lecturer and programme lead for the Return to Practice programme
Email: kwelch@lincoln.ac.uk
Phone: 07946117372
Siobhan Clarke
Administrative support for the Return to Practice programme
Email: siclarke@lincoln.ac.uk
Gillian Beardsmore
Workforce Transformation GPN lead
Email: gillian.beardmore1@nhs.net OR contact@lincolnshiretraininghub.nhs.uk
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From short courses and microcredentials, to professional development modules and fully online Master’s degrees, we offer a range of flexible programmes to suit your individual needs. Our suite of programmes uses a variety of delivery methods, including online-only, face-to-face, blended, and distance-learning approaches.
