Eligibility And Requirements
The NMC – Nursing and Midwifery Council checks and verifies that an applicant is capable of practicing safely and effectively in the UK as a nurse or midwife and they assess the applicant’s qualification, training, and experience against UK NMC standards.
NMC will check whether the applicant has undertaken the necessary post-qualifying practice and experience in each area of nursing or midwifery as required for the part of the Register for which they are applying. Applicants must also meet NMC’s English language requirements.
To prove knowledge of English language requirements, there are several pieces of evidence that NMC will accept:
You must have within the last 2 years, achieved the required score in one of the English language tests accepted by the NMC. You must achieve the required international English language test (IELTS) score of 7.0 in reading, speaking, and listening sections and 6.5 in the writing section, of the IELTS test or Occupational English Test (OET) with grade B or grade A across all 4 sub-tests of reading, writing, speaking and listening. You can achieve these test scores across two test sittings, provided,
- You take the tests within one year of each other.
- You are tested across all four sections at the same time, all scores in both sittings are above 6.5 (if IELTS) or above C+ (if OET).
- If IELTS, you achieve at least 6.5 in the writing section and at least 7 in the reading, listening, and speaking sections in either of the two test sittings, or if OET, you achieve a grade B in reading, listening, and speaking grade C+ in writing, when the results of both sittings are viewed together.
A recent pre-registration nursing or midwifery qualification which was taught and examined in English. NMC will need further evidence at the assessment stage before they make a final decision on its acceptability. Recent NMC means evidence related to English Language Competence that is less than two years old at the point of making an application to the NMC
The NMC’s New Test Of Competence Involves The Below Process
Stage 1:
Computer Based Test (CBT). Globally available assessment conducted at Pearson VUE Test Centres.
Multiple choice
- 120 questions.
- 4 hours to complete.
- 60% score overall to pass.
- 90% of critical questions must be answered correctly (related to patient safety).
Stage 2:
Observed Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE).
- UK-based assessment conducted at the University of Northampton, Oxford Brookes University, or Ulster University.
- 6 OSCE stations.
- 20 minutes per station with 5 minutes Familiarization
- 4 stations are scenario-based, related to holistic patient-centered nursing and midwifery care. 2 stations are focused on practical clinical skills. Unique 20 criterion-based assessment sheets for each station Maximum 3 re-sits.
