AIBU to start nursing course without driver's licence?

[Nurseornot]

I have taken the driving test once and failed so far. It has knocked my confidence. I will be going to a nursing course in September and later in the course I may have placements in various places. I am not sure if I will be able to pass my test by September. Am I being unreasonable to think I should be ok to start the nursing course without having a driver's licence?

Have your university given you a choice/any information on where your placements might be?

I am on the outskirts of London and when applying for my nursing course, they asked me where I'd like to work upfront. Being in London, travel would have been ok anyway, but I chose the area closest to me.

Do you have any idea where you will be placed? Then you can make plans incase you don't pass your test.

I'm in my final year. There are people doing my course who don't drive. I think getting to the hospital placements have been fine but we had to do a community placement in our 2nd year and that was a nightmare - community nurses are often based in small offices in villages with no bus service. Our area is quite rural though.

Most of your placements will be in hospitals though, unless you choose otherwise.

The university is in Manchester and I live in Preston. I was planning to take the train, but I assume the placements will be in Manchester and I'm not sure if this is realistic without a car?

UCLAN has a good reputation for nursing. Is it too late to change unis?

I passed my test 3 weeks after I qualified. I had no problem with my placements but they were all in the city where I live.

I was rejected from UCLAN on the basis of my statement, but I am through for Salford.

You don't need to drive to be a student nurse. Public transport gets you to the hospitals during the week before placement start. The only issue most people have is Sunday early starts, and many students would get a taxi or another nurse to pick them up if no transport early enough. Also most wards are willing to work with students so come in slightly later on a Sunday or work Saturdays instead.

what is the public transport like?
i would learn to drive, you should be able to pass by september, if you give yourself the aim

I wanted to pass before ds was born, i did it with 6 weeks to spare!

Will you be able to get to your placement for a 7am start? Will you be able to get home safely after 9pm? Or even 1am if the placement has twilight shifts? What about weekends and bank holidays?

Ah I see re UCLAN, my best friend qualifies this year. Based on her experience I would throw everything I have into learning to drive.

I did my nursing degree in Manchester and used public transport for the first two years until I got a car.
They ask you where you leave and give you the nearest area to your home where possible with a couple of central placements over the three years.
The worst journey was my housemates to a community placement in Glossop which took 90 minutes but generally they try to make your placement no more than an hour away.

I know a sister who hasn't passed her test yet so it obviously can be done! I work at one of the hospitals that Salford students do placements at and it is fine for public transport, as are the other hospitals I can think of.

That said, you can totally pass your test before September!

I.did m nurse training in Salford and Bolton back in the days when it was diploma training I managed to get around my placements but it is !such harder I'm sure ok can do it but I would keep up.the lessons.

Some unis will take into consideration whether you drive and where you live, when they assign your placements. Mine did, and that was one of the biggest reasons I picked them.

Some unis don't care at all, and will quite happily demand you work 12+-hour shifts with a 3-hour commute on either side, or send you to a placement which is not served by public transport. Definitely talk to your uni to find out their policy.

I'm a final-year StN and also a learner driver, and fitting lessons in around shifts, lectures and assignments is a massive pain. I would definitely prioritise extra lessons and re-testing before you start. If you're already at the point of taking tests, you can definitely pass before Sept! Very best of luck to you.

In my uni you click a section that says whether you have a car or not. They take this into account when allocating placements.

YANBU to start without being a driver - go for it!

One of my fellow uni students passed her test in her second year.

And I went a couple of months with no car when my car died as well, so it happens.

I think you have a couple of months of uni before placements would start which would give you until around November/December.

For your first placement you could request somewhere accessable, they don't have to oblige but its worth an ask.

I did nursing in an area with lots of rural placements and for those of us who couldn't drive they did try to take this into account where they could.

You'll pass your test. Lots of people including me fail the first time they sit it, the vast majority will pass it eventually. Keep practising.

Could you do an intensive driving course in the holidays, one of those that takes you every day? It's probably only practise and a bit of confidence that you need

Check the locations with your uni - only they can tell you where they might be, you will then need to check public transport options. Not many nursing students will be able to afford to run a car so you won't be alone, but they do usually expect you to travel.

One other thing to be aware of is Sunday schedules -- a lot of public transport runs a very reduced service on Sundays. It's worth checking the situation in your area, if you're still thinking about relying on public transport.

You can always take lessons once you start. I do know that all of DD's nursing and medic friends do drive but placements are across 2 counties, they are always moaning about travel time and mileage expenses delays.

I did my nursing training with my daughter. We live in a very rural area and she couldn’t drive at the start, but was given placements which were easy to get to.
However a male student, who didn’t drive and lived 15 miles from the uni was given a placement 70 miles in the other direction! It meant that he had to get lodgings for 5 nights (which he was reimbursed for up to a certain amount), travelling down on the Sunday. The buses were terrible and he wouldn’t have gotten home on the Friday if it wasn’t that the ambulance transport had a run between the 2 hospitals every Friday afternoon and they let him away early so he could get a lift, plus they didn’t ask him to work any weekends. Really difficult as he and his wife had a 1 year old daughter.
Another student who lived only 30 miles from the hospital he was at was given the placement as his local hospital, meaning a round trip of 110 miles each day. The tutor who had sorted out the placements wouldn’t let them swap!
Keep up with the driving lessons, just in case!

I didn’t have a car when I was a student, so I just had to get the bus everywhere. Some placements were miles away!

You’ll be expected to work nights and weekends so make sure you’ve got your transport. You have to be there ready for the start of handover which can be 7am in some Trust’s (like mine). Timekeeping is very important so if you’re struggling you’ll need to talk to your uni/placement.