Working as an Adult Care Nurse

Nurses in the UK practice under the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) Code of Conduct to ensure they meet all professional, legal, and ethical requirements for working in the NHS. The code states that nurses must always follow four key proficiencies: prioritise people, practice effectively, preserve safety and promote professionalism and trust.

Nurses have a legal responsibility to keep up to date with current knowledge and maintain clinical supervision through Continuing Professional Development (CPD). The NHS offers a wide range of training and development options to support this.

The duties of a Registered Nurse vary depending on experience and place of work. Typically, a hospital-based Band 5 Nurse is responsible for providing ‘bedside care’, by taking patient observations, administrating medications, attending to hygiene requirements, and assisting with hydration and feeding needs.

With additional training, Nurses can also take on extended roles such as venepuncture, cannulation, wound care, and enteral feeding, among other skills. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are essential because Nurses are expected to keep patients, relatives, carers, and colleagues regularly updated about care and progress.

Specific duties include:

• Assess, plan, implement and evaluate patient care plans
• Complete tasks such as preparing patients for operations, treating wounds and monitoring pulse, blood pressure and temperature
• Observe and document the condition of patients
• Administer medications
• Assist with tests and evaluations
• Respond to emergencies and changing patient situations
• Plan patient discharges from hospital and liaise with the wider multi-disciplinary team (MDT)
• Communicate effectively with patients and their relatives and carers
• Provide health promotion and education to patients about their health
• Delegate tasks and organise staff
• Mentor student and junior nurses
• Maintain patient records and documentation

Nurses work in hospital and community settings and generally work shifts over seven days of the week, including day and night duty and on-call rotas. Some 60% of Nurses (and Midwives) work 12-hour shifts, usually from 7am to 7pm, or 7pm to 7am.  There are also options to work more flexibly by joining staff ‘banks’ operated by NHS Professionals and NHS Trusts themselves.

Nurses are independent practitioners with responsibility for all aspects of patient care, from admissions through to care planning and discharge. Nurses also will work closely with other Nurses and other healthcare professionals in the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) to create support packages for patients.

Usually, Nurses will be appointed to a specific role within a set ward or unit. However, there may also be opportunities to ‘rotate’ to other wards for a period.

The basic pay for a Registered Nurse in the UK ranges from £22,816 - £28,407 a year, for a 37.5-hour week.

Anyone who is trained outside the UK and wants to work as an Adult Care Nurse in the NHS must register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Before this stage, applicants need to successfully complete a two-part application process which includes a Computer-Based Test and an objective structured clinical exam (OSCE).

Overseas Nurses must also meet the English language standard set by the NMC.