Food & Drink1 min ago
nvq's
I am 29 and my husband is leaving the army in exactly one years time. I am able to take the opportunity for me train in nursing. I do not have the required GCSE's so I have to gain NVQ 1,2 & 3.
I know that one way is to study in a college, but another way is to work in a hospital as an auxillary nurse/healthcare assistant and study the NVQ's as you go along. So I suppose that my question is how do I go about getting this? I would be ever so grateful for any help and advice you all can give me.
Answers
No best answer has yet been selected by hellywellywo. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.You have said that you do not have the required GCSE's and as a result you have decided to do an NVQ.
Would it be worth while enquiring at your local college if your able eligible to do GCSE's with them. I have a friend and he needed GCSE's so he went along to the local college and studied with them 3 evenings a week for 7 months and as a result got 3 GCSE's, so as an adult the pace of work is faster than young people at school studting and shouldnt take you long to complete at all.
It will take you a long time to reach your goal via this route, and you will face plenty of obstacles, such as staff shortages or manic wards where staff just do not have the time to assist you as quickly as you would like. The best way would really be an Access Course, it takes a year but proves you can study at a higher level and you don't need any qualifications to get on to the course. All the access crowd in my college last year were accepted onto Nurse Training Courses. Try and do some voluntary work as well to help your application. Good Luck!
An Access course would indeed be your best bet. However, it will be equally vital to gain relevant experience while studying. Universities will want to see evidence of your interest in caring for other people and they will also expect you to understand how the NHS works and what a nurse's job involves. It can be quite difficult to be accepted to work in a hospital...even in a voluntary capacity, but you can approach care homes, hospices etc. Although there aren't enough nurses in this country, it is still very hard to get into a nursing course (degree and diploma alike) so the more you prepare yourself the better! Good luck.