The Return to Practice course prepares you to re-enter the Nursing and Midwifery Council Professional Register as a confident, safe and competent practitioner, able to care for people and their families within a constantly evolving health and social care environment.

• We offer a wide variety of practice experiences in both hospital and community settings.
• We are a modern University with a very friendly and supportive environment in which to learn.
• We offer excellent teaching facilities, including dedicated space for simulated learning within clinical skills suites.
• At Brookes, we teach the skills for evidence-based practice and encourage our students to develop a problem-solving approach to clinical practise.
• We instil confidence in our students to enable them to use their own clinical and professional judgement in order to influence practice.
• We have an excellent track record of high levels of student satisfaction, low student attrition rates and high graduate employability.
• We provide a range of support services for students, such as the subject co-ordinator who supports your academic development, link lecturers who support your practice development and student support co-ordinators who provide a drop-in service to help answer any queries you may have about any aspect of student life, covering both academic and personal welfare.
• Information technology plays an increasingly important role in health care courses and an extensive range of learning resources can be accessed through ‘Brookes Virtual’ - an online repository of lectures, handouts, information and learning exercises.
• The nature of the Return to Practice Course facilitates supportive learning within a group of practitioners from a range of backgrounds and across all fields of nursing and midwifery.
• The Return to Practice Course is facilitated by experienced lecturers who maintain excellent links with our practice partners across the region.
• Oxford Brookes is a student-centred institution that is fully committed to each individual achieving their potential

The course runs over one semester (15 weeks) and involves commitment given to 3 days per week. A range of core and specialist content ensures that students are able to examine Government policy, professional issues and the evidence base for health care interventions. This is combined with a supportive strategy for the re-development of clinical skills both in the University and in the practice environment.

Your learning on the Return to Practice Course will take place in both the university and practice setting. Theoretical teaching includes a minimum of 10 generic study days and 3 mandatory training days. Teaching is delivered in Oxford (mainly at the Marston Road site).

The first three weeks of the course will be spent at university (2 – 3 days per week) where a range of content will be studied– theoretical and practical – in order to prepare you for your practice placement. You will then commence a 12 week practice placement in a setting appropriate for your learning needs. Here you will be supported by a Sign Off Mentor who will facilitate your practice learning and assessment. During these weeks you will return to university for one day every two weeks. These days will provide you with the opportunity to reflect on your practice learning experiences; receive support for your written assignment; and prepare for re-entry to the Nursing and Midwifery register.

Additional attendance at field-specific lectures may be negotiated on an individual basis.

The aim of the Return to Practice course is to graduate nurses and midwives who:

• are competent, clinically focused, health care professionals who are fit for purpose and practice & to return to the appropriate part of the NMC register.
• demonstrate self-awareness and confidence in their own abilities and an emerging potential to supervise, manage and lead others.
• will contribute significantly to high quality person centred care across the lifespan.
• will demonstrate the skills to manage their own continuing development and work effectively with other professionals in order to promote best outcomes of care

Nursing

You will need a field-specific placement in a community or hospital setting. If you apply for a funded place this placement will be organised for you. If you apply for a self-funded place (see Fees / Funding section) you will need to secure your own placement outside of Oxfordshire and submit a signed placement agreement letter from the manager of this area confirming that your placement area follows NMC quality assurance processes and that your placement will be assessed by a sign-off mentor.

Practice Hours: For all fields, the absolute minimum number of hours required is 120, however it is more usual to undertake between 150 – 200 hours with a maximum requirement of 450 hours in order to complete practice competencies. You will be advised by the Subject Coordinator for Return to Practice of the number of hours that you should complete. This will take into account your previous experience, length of time out of nursing practice, and any relevant experience undertaken while you have been out of professional practice.

Midwifery

Subject to placement capacity and local Trust agreement, you will be offered a range of maternity placements in the hospital and community settings

Practice Hours NOTE: Midwifery students are required to complete the number of practice hours stipulated by the Lead Midwife for Education (LME) and the Trust’s Divisional Lead for Practice Development and Education. The number of hours varies depending on your years out of practice, previous clinical experience and evidence of personal / professional development. The requirement is normally a minimum of 200 hours and a maximum of 450 hours and will normally include experience in 3 placement areas: Delivery Suite, Community, and Maternity Ward. Hours will be divided between these placements according to individual need.

Teaching and learning

We offer a very friendly and supportive environment in which to learn and we consistently receive very high satisfaction ratings for student support and learning resources in student evaluations. Our course adopts a student-centred approach to teaching and learning and focuses on encouraging you to attain your full potential as a lifelong learner.

Your learning will be facilitated in partnership with practice and academic staff who meet professional standards and guidance. They will value you as an individual, enhance your strengths and challenge you in order that you can develop academically, personally and professionally.

You will be encouraged to learn by discovery, helping you to identify your strengths and areas for development. You can then reach your personal and professional potential and become a confident, safe and effective professional registered nurse.

• Learning will be facilitated by a range of approaches during both the practice and university experiences such as:
• Experiential learning e.g. practice learning, simulation, action-learning, debate and discussion, reflection.
• Mentoring, coaching and supervising e.g. questioning, challenging, supporting, observing, giving and receiving feedback
• Student-centred learning e.g. self-assessment, reading, finding evidence, production of resources
• Blended and on-line learning: e.g. using digital resources such as quizzes
• Simulation Based Education (SBE) is defined as any educational activity that utilises simulation aides to replicate clinical scenarios. The SBE activities will take place in the safe learning environment of the clinical skills suites, which replicates both community and acute settings. During SBE sessions you will have the opportunity to learn and refine both technical and non-technical skills including situational awareness and human factors.

Information technology plays an increasingly important role in health care courses, and a very extensive range of learning resources can be accessed through Moodle, an online repository of lectures, handouts, information and learning exercises.

The practice learning component of your course is comprised primarily of direct care experiences with patients and families, complemented by a well-established clinical skills simulation programme which enables you to learn about and consolidate practice learning. In placement areas, you work with experienced nurses / midwives (known as mentors), also supported by link lecturers and other placement-related staff.

Approach to assessment

There are three components to the assessment strategy and all components must be passed to successfully complete the Return to Practice course:

1. Completion of required practice hours
2. The achievement of clinical practice competencies appropriate to the field of practice as per the Practice Assessment Document (these will be assessed by your allocated sign off mentor in your practice placement).
3. Written assignment. This takes the form of an extended reflective piece of work

We fully engage in the University's Assessment Compact, which aims to collaborate with students to support their academic skill development needs (for example through providing formative feedback on draft assignments).

Funded places are available for the Return to Practice Course for all fields of nursing. These places may be offered to those candidates who successfully complete the recruitment process and for whom placements are available. Candidates usually live in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, or Buckinghamshire, and are planning to return to work in these areas, following successful completion of the course.

Students who are offered a funded place may also be provided with a bursary (currently £500) from Health Education England.

Self-Funded Students

If you live outside the Thames Valley catchment area, it may be possible to apply for a self-funded place to return to any part of the NMC Nursing Register. In this case you would need to nominate a practice placement setting which can offer the experience required by University regulations. This would allow the theoretical part of the course to be delivered on campus and practice to be completed within a placement area within the UK, but closer to home.

The course fee for self-funded students is £1,500.00. This includes all mandatory training, teaching, full access to University student support and facilities, Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly Criminal Records Bureau) screening and Occupational Health screening, provision of uniform and security documentation, and administration costs.

If you do live outside the Thames Valley catchment area, please contact your Local Education and Training Board (LETB), as they might be able to fund your place, provided that you can find a suitable placement.

Course fees for self-funding students must be paid in full on enrolment for the Course.

Course eligibility

Evidence of previous / current registration on appropriate parts of the UKCC / Nursing and Midwifery Council Professional Register.

Places may be available on the module to applicants who have been previously registered in the EU and who have been recommended by the NMC to undertake a Return to Practice Course. You will need to provide a copy of the letter of recommendation from the NMC. All applicants in this category are required to provide documentary proof of ability to study in English at IELTS (International English Language Testing System) score of 7.0, or higher, with a minimum score of 6.5 in each component of the test. Production of this evidence is the responsibility of the applicant and should be submitted at the time the application is made.

Screening

Securing a place is subject to both a satisfactory DBS and an Occupational Health clearance. If neither clearance has been completed prior to enrolment or a DBS issue has been declared on application, then enrolment may not be possible.

If enrolment has been agreed, then continuation on the programme will be contingent on satisfactory clearances.

Selection process

All Oxford Brookes University Health and Social Care Programmes conduct Value Based Recruitment (VBR). We recognise that values and attitudes have the greatest impact on the quality of people's care and their experiences.

VBR is a way of helping our Programme recruitment teams to assess the values, motives and attitudes of those who wish to work with people in health and social care settings. When we refer to values we mean, for example, the values included in the NHS constitution.

VBR focuses on 'how' and 'why' an applicant makes choices in how they act and seeks to explore reasons for their behaviour: 

• Further details about the VBR framework

All shortlisted applicants will be invited for an interview.

English language requirements

If your first language is not English, then you should have an IELTS score of 7.0 (with a minimum score of 6.5 in any component).

How to apply

Students should apply direct to the university using the Return to Practice application form. The application form and supplementary information sheet should be returned, together with the Placement Support Form if applying for a self-funded place, to the Programme Administrator at the Marston Road Site, Oxford. Please ask your two referees to send their references to the Programme Administrator, at the Marston Road Site, by the application deadline, or processing of your application might be delayed.

For Application Packs please email returntopractice@brookes.ac.uk

Terms and Conditions of Enrolment

When you accept our offer, you agree to the Terms and Conditions of Enrolment. You should therefore read those conditions before accepting the offer.

We offer a very friendly and supportive environment in which to learn and we consistently receive very high satisfaction ratings for student support and learning resources in student surveys. We have excellent teaching facilities including:

• a 280-seat lecture theatre
• dedicated clinical skills suites and simulation resources, which include a very well-equipped movement laboratory and a family of computerised simulation manikins, including a sim-man, sim-babies (newborn and an older baby under six months old) and birthing mother
• an extensive range of anatomy models
• fully networked computer rooms
• excellent library resources, accessible through both the web and a range of locally based facilities on university and NHS sites.

A range of people offer support to our students, including:

• Your subject co-ordinator / academic advisor, who facilitate students’ academic development
• The student support co-ordinators, who provide a drop-in service for questions about any aspect of student life, covering both academic and personal welfare.

The University’s support services include Upgrade, which provides advice on study skills, such as planning and writing essays, assignments and dissertations, research, and preparing for exams.

There is a dedicated Student Disability and Dyslexia Service, which provides support for students with disabilities including sensory and mobility impairments, dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties, mental health problems and medical conditions. The service's staff offer advice and support on a range of issues, including physical access, funding, alternative assessment arrangements and liaison with teaching staff to ensure that they are aware of your requirements.

General support services

Supporting your learning

From academic advisers and support co-ordinators to specialist subject librarians and other learning support staff, we want to ensure that you get the best out of your studies.

Personal support services

We want your time at Brookes to be as enjoyable and successful as possible. That's why we provide all the facilities you need to be relaxed, happy and healthy throughout your studies.

Professional accreditation

The Return to Practice course at Oxford Brookes University has been approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council and has been designed based upon the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Learning Outcomes for Return to Practice (2011), NMC Standards for pre-registration nursing education (2010), NMC Standards for pre-registration midwifery education (NMC 2009), Knowledge and Skills Framework at band 5 (NHS KSF 2004) and the QAA Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ 2008).

Please note: NMC approval of this course is subject to review and can be withdrawn at any time

Career prospects

Students usually obtain a post within their field of practice, shortly after completion of the course.

Further study

A wide range of courses is available at Oxford Brookes for continuing professional development (CPD).

Students considering a Return to Practice course can access the SN@P numeracy testing tool to test and improve their existing skills.  

SN@P is a standardised numeracy assessment resource developed for use across several healthcare sectors. 

In order to use SN@P, students will need to complete a short registration form on the SN@P website.