Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check
A Disclosure and Barring Service check is a process to find out whether someone has a criminal record, and is a requirement of your programme. Your DBS clearance checks can take several months, so it’s essential you start the process as soon as possible. Please make sure you read the below information thoroughly and ensure you meet the submission deadline.
DBS submission deadline
The final stage of the DBS application process involves authenticating documents used to confirm your identity and address. This is done via the Post Office. Importantly, the Post Office cannot submit your application to our DBS referencing agency until you complete this process. To ensure all offer holders receive DBS clearance and are ready to go to orientation/placement in the Autumn. Your DBS application must be authenticated via Post Office and submitted by the following dates:
Home offer holder deadline – September 2024
International offer holder deadline – September 2024 – You need to ensure you are in the UK in time to attend the Post Office to authenticate your documents and make your DBS submission before the deadline. When planning your arrival in the UK, please make sure you are aware of and follow arrival rules in accordance with government Covid-19 restrictions.
Offer-holders who do not submit their DBS application by the required dates will not be able to start their programmes of study and may be automatically deferred or interrupted.
How to complete your DBS check
An email will be sent to offer holders in early June from dbs.clearance@kcl.ac.uk to provide you with information and a link to start the process. Once your DBS check has been initiated, you will receive an email from our DBS supplier, Atlantic Data (dbs@kcl.disclosures.co.uk) to confirm this.
For more information on the DBS process, including frequently asked questions click here.
Occupational Health and Immunity Clearance
All pre-registration nursing and midwifery students are required to be assessed by Occupational Health Service as medically fit to undertake their course of study and clinical practice. In addition, you must also meet certain immunity requirements as health care workers before going on clinical placement.
This might sound daunting, but the process allows for the identification of any reasonable adjustments that could be put in place to support you to be successful in your course of study and clinical practice. You can start this process once you hold a ‘firm’ offer. You must complete this questionnaire within three weeks of its receipt.
There are two stages to the occupational health clearance process. The first stage starts prior to enrolling, when you are asked to complete an occupational health questionnaire. The second stage involves completing your immunity clearance. For midwifery students this takes place prior to enrolment, but for nursing students it happens after enrolment.
Stage One: Occupational Health Clearance – completion of the occupational health questionnaire (pre-enrolment)
In early June, or once you have a 'firm' offer, you will receive an email from one of our two occupational health service providers inviting you to complete a health questionnaire.
BSc & MSc Pre-Registration Nursing, BSc Midwifery and MNurs programmes:
Service provider: Optima Health
FAQ: For further information on your Pre-Registration occupational heatlh questionnaire.
All BSc Nursing programmes - click here.
Midwifery - click here.
MSc and MNurs Pre-Registration - click here
Note: The questionnaire will come from the following email address -
If you have a firm offer and haven’t received the occupational health questionnaire, please contact the Admissions team via the Admissions Portal.
Why do we ask you to complete an occupational health questionnaire?
In line with our commitment to inclusion and accessibility, we want to ensure that reasonable adjustments are in place for students with disabilities and underlying health conditions, and that you are safe and supported.
Completing your health questionnaire is the first step towards making this happen. The information you provide to the Occupational Health Service will also ensure that you, your colleagues, and patients are not put at risk when you go on placement.
The occupational health questionnaire shouldn’t be seen as a barrier to commencing a course of study, but a way for us to enable you to achieve your goals. The sooner we have this information, the sooner we can ensure that the right support and adjustments are in place, should you need it. However, any information shared with the Occupation Health Service providers in your questionnaire will not be shared with King’s College London without your explicit consent.
In line with Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) requirements, you are expected to act with honesty and integrity when completing your occupational health questionnaire. Failure to declare relevant information may result in the offer of a place being withdrawn.
Reviewing your declaration
Your completed occupational health questionnaire will be reviewed by the Occupational Health Service providers. It is quite usual for students to wait several weeks for the review to be completed due to the large numbers of applicants for your programme. If the Occupational Health Service requires more information, they will contact you directly. You may then be invited for a telephone and/or face-to-face consultation or be asked to provide further GP or specialist information.
If you have any questions regarding the questionnaire, you are welcome to contact our Occupational Health Service providers directly:
BSc, MSc & MNurs Pre-Registration nursing and BSc midwifery programmes:
Service provider: Optima Health
Email: Team8@optimalhealth.co.uk
Phone: 01327 810 794
Support and adjustments
Where an Occupational Health Service provider identifies and recommends adjustments for a student, we will work with them and our clinical practice partners to identify the extent to which such adjustments may be implemented/supported within the professional registration requirements of the course. In rare instances, we may invite you to take part in an assessment determine to whether we can support you during the programme to perform the specific competencies required for registration, this is commonly called a ‘Trades Assessment’.
Together with the Occupational Health Service, we may also advise you to self-refer to the Disability Support Service. Their role is to offer support for the academic part of your programme and to ensure that reasonable adjustments are in place to support your learning, for example, if you have dyslexia or anxiety.
Stage Two: Immunity Clearance (New Starter Check/EPP Clearance)
Midwifery offer-holders will need to attend an appointment before they enroll for their New Starter Check and to undergo Exposure Prone Procedure (EPP) clearance. This is mandatory screening for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV in line with Department of Health guidance for health care workers and is required for Midwifery students as they will be performing EPP procedures. For more information on these requirements click here. Midwifery students will be invited to an appointment in June or July by the Occupational Health Service following receipt of your completed occupational health questionnaire.
Offer-holders studying nursing will only be invited for a New Starter Check by our Occupational Health Service providers once you have enrolled. Do not worry if you don't hear about your appointment straight away, there are a large number of students having checks, so it can take a while to get everyone allocated an appointment.
Immunity clearance
As part of the occupational health clearance, all students will need to provide evidence of immunity against certain work-related vaccine-preventable communicable diseases. These are requirements set out by the Department of Health for all healthcare workers, and include:
- Measles
- Rubella
- Varicella (Chicken Pox)
- Tuberculosis (TB)
- Hepatitis B
When you attend your New Starter Check appointment, the Occupational Health Service provider will assess and confirm your immunity to the above communicable diseases. If at that time, you are unable to demonstrate immunity by providing documentary evidence, the Occupational Health Service provider will undertake any required blood tests and recommend / offer vaccinations as indicated.
Full Occupational Health Clearance
Once you receive clearance from the Occupational Health Service provider, the Faculty will be informed. This includes information on the support or adjustments you might require which will be shared with your consent. Full Occupational Health clearance not be confirmed until the satisfactory completion of both, stage one (health clearance) and two (immunity clearance).
Occupational Health clearance is one part of the process to be declared ‘Ready for placement’. You also need to be DBS-cleared and complete all your mandatory training. You’ll find out more about mandatory training once you start the programme in September.
DBS, OH and Mandatory Training clearance deadline
This is the date by which you need to have received both your DBS, OH and mandatory training clearance. These are UK government requirements to attend placements. If you are not cleared in time to start placements the Programmes Team will be in contact to explain what your options are. In some rare cases, this might involve interrupting your studies. This is why we always encourage applicants to start these processes early.
These dates have been set to ensure you are ready to attend orientation/ placement the following week:
- MSc Adult, Child, Mental Health and MNurs Dual-award Nursing - Monday 16th October
- BSc Adult, Child and Mental Health Nursing – Monday 30th October
- BSc Midwifery - Monday 30th October
If an offer-holder or a third party on behalf of the offer-holder, is found to have provided untrue or inaccurate information or to have omitted information at enrolment, registration can be terminated without notice as per university regulations. (please see G25, page 63)
Starting your programme
Welcome Week commences on Monday 16th - Friday 20th September 2024. We encourage everyone to attend Welcome Week, the programme will be full of opportunities to meet with your cohort, build a community, as well as learn about your programme. Those that don’t attend Welcome Week will miss out on key information and be at a disadvantage.
In August, we will be in touch with more information about what to expect in your first few weeks of the programme.