How can I change my career to nursing?
There’s plenty of support for anyone seeking a career change to nursing—and if you already have healthcare experience, you could become a nurse in as little as two years. Learn more about your options for switching careers and discover which nursing qualifications you’ll need.
How do you change your career to nursing?
To switch to nursing, you’ll need to study a pre-registration nursing degree and then become registered with the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC).
If you already have a degree, you may be able to jump straight into postgraduate study and complete a nursing MSc—but you’ll need to have some healthcare-related experience. For 2025 entry, King’s asked for at least 575 hours, which is roughly equivalent to four months of full-time work, as well as at least a 2:2 degree in any subject. Please make sure you check the course page for the most up-to-date requirements on healthcare-related experience.
If you don’t have a degree, you’ll need to study for an undergraduate nursing degree instead. While this takes a year longer than the postgraduate route, you may prefer this option because it will ease you into academic study and give you more clinical placement time.
A good example of someone who successfully completed a career switch to nursing is King’s alumnus, Hannah. She previously worked in disability advocacy and volunteer management, running a team that organised holidays and weekend breaks for deafblind people and wanted to become a practitioner rather than a professional manager.
Because Hannah already had an undergraduate degree in English and philosophy, a master’s in medical ethics and plenty of healthcare experience, she was eligible to apply for a postgraduate degree and became a nurse in her 30s.
What are the best nursing programmes for career changers?
There are three main options to support your career change to nursing:
- If you have enough hours of healthcare-related experience and at least a 2:2 degree, you may be able to apply for a postgraduate nursing degree.
- If you don’t have a degree or the time to gain the required hours of healthcare-related experience, you can apply for an undergraduate nursing degree.
- If you don’t want to study at university, you could undertake a four-year nursing degree apprenticeship.
What counts as relevant healthcare-related experience?
Relevant healthcare-related experience is any type of care that involves you giving direct physical or psychological care to another person and can include paid full- or part-time employment or voluntary work.
There are a range of healthcare roles that are relevant to nursing, and experience in them may mean you’re eligible to apply for a fast-tracked postgraduate degree.
These include, but are not limited to, experience working as a:
- Health care assistant
- Care assistant
- Support worker
- Special educational needs teacher
- Personal care (but a GP will need to verify this)
Your experience working with the following kinds of organisations may also count towards your healthcare-related experience hours:
- Healthcare charities
- St John’s Ambulance
- Phone helplines for 111, 999, Samaritans, etc.
Can you become a nurse while working full-time?
It’s always recommended that you study nursing full-time.
When it comes to financing your studies, you’ll be able to take out tuition and maintenance loans and receive a grant from the NHS for each academic year. There’s a range of financial support available to aspiring nurses, so you should make sure you’re aware of how to fund your nursing degree.
Is there an upper age limit to retrain as a nurse?
There isn’t an age limit for switching to nursing, but there are a few things you should consider. For example, nursing is a physically exerting career, and you’ll need a lot of energy every day. It’s important to think about how studying for a challenging degree can be balanced alongside your existing responsibilities, and which nursing specialty would be most suitable.
It’s perfectly feasible to become a nurse in your 50s, and you can expect to see students of all ages on your nursing degree.
Tips for anyone considering a career change to nursing
If you’re seriously considering nursing as a second career, the following tips may be helpful:
- If you don’t already have healthcare experience, it will be beneficial to try and gain some. It’ll help confirm that this is the right career change for you and start to give you some relevant skills.
- Build your self-care practice. Nursing is a challenging career, and knowing how to best look after yourself is essential.
- Do your research. Take a look at the range of nursing degrees on offer and compare the reputation of each university. Make sure you choose one that includes NMC registration.
- Visit open days to get a better sense of the university and your learning environment. See all upcoming events for prospective nursing students here.
- Prepare any questions you’d like answered, and try to get as much information as you can from each event.
- Explore all opportunities for funding and apply for any grants or bursaries that you may be eligible for.
- Take a look at Clearing; there may be some last-minute places available for degrees starting in September.