Becoming a palliative care nurse- where to begin?

[Keepitlemon]

Long time poster, NC for this!
So at the minute I’m a stay at home mum to DD2 and DS1 and thinking about the future. Only previous work experience is the local family-run shop/bakery, and a few years of being a carer some years back. I’ve always wanted to do something healthcare related- midwife/nurse/GP dr, but always put it off due to leaving school with terrible grades and never thinking I was good enough. I’ve got little ones looking up to me now so that mindset is no more!!

Does anyone know where I would even begin with wanting to become a palliative/hospice nurse? I’m thinking an entry course at college to access higher education, then on to uni for a nursing degree? Is this right as I have no idea where to start! Thank you to anyone who can advise.

Hi, there's 2 routes if you want to become a Registered Nurse.

First would be an Access to Nursing course at college, followed by a 3 year degree. You'd need a student loan to cover course cost, plus you'd get a means tested maintenance loan. The government currently also give you £5 per year as it's difficult to fit in paid work around the course unlike other degree courses.

The other option is to apply for a job as a Health Care Assistant at a hospital (you do need Grade C+ or equiv English and Maths). You could then apply for a Trainee Nursing Associate role which is a 2 year uni course to become a Nursing Associate. Once you are a Nursing Associate, you could apply for a degree apprenticeship 'top up' to become a Registered Nurse. This route is longer, but most importantly, you are paid whilst doing it AND you don't have any Uni course fees as they are provided via the Apprentice programme.

if you are interested in the second route, you would need to look at local Unis to see what they offer. You local (biggish) hospital might have a Widening Access type department that can advise further - PM me if you want me to look into it for you as I know what I'm looking for!

An access to higher education in healthcare course is a great place to start. You could see if any local hospices have vacancies for healthcare assistants or any volunteering opportunities to get that on your CV and get a feel for the hands on care side of things. Nursing is a degree only course and it's hard work but totally worth it. I found the access course really helpful as it gets you into the right frame of mind for academic writing, referencing and all the things you will need for your degree. Maybe go to some local university open days to see if you like them. Good luck, best career choice I ever made.

Great advice from the previous poster. It might be worth looking at jobs in your local hospital for bank/ health care assistant roles to see if nursing is for you before you commit. Nursing is very, very hard, but very rewarding. How old are your dc? Would you manage to study alongside child care? Is your dh supportive?

Thank you so much for the replies so far! I have actually applied for 3 healthcare assistant roles and the main hospital but none were accepted, maybe I could look at online courses to get my grades up first! Another challenge I’m facing is English being my only language and living in (north) wales, I am learning welsh though through a few apps and DH!

DH works 13 hour days, children are (just) 1 and 2, so would have to look into nursery’s/child minders. I live in a small village and have a few friends who work at the hospital so will have a chat with them also. As @madamy the second option definitely sounds more appealing! Hope I’ve covered everything everyone has said! Thank you all again!

You might find that you prefer other areas of nursing. All the areas I thought I would like to specialise in, I hated. And ended up somewhere completely different from what I planned. Paediatric nursing is the best job ever!

I agree with @Toddlerteaplease you might like other areas of nursing. Don’t get too fixated in specialising in an area too soon.

You’ll need childcare for shifts on weekends and nights so maybe you and your DH can work round each other as that’s what most people do.

Also bear in mind that nurseries are often not open early enough for people on long shifts. A couple of the ones near my hospital start at 6.30. But it's rare.

I don’t know for sure but one of my nursing lecturer colleagues told me yesterday you can now directly apply for nursing apprenticeship roles direct through the nhs jobs website. Without being a healthcare support worker /nursing associate at the trust first. This will depend if your local trust and university offer the training and if there are vacancies.

Also what qualifications do you already have and how recent are they? You might not need to do an access course first.

Also depend where you are in UK. England very different to Wales