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Are you a trained Allied Health Professional (AHP) or Nurse looking to return to practice following a career break? If so, then we are ready to support you in your journey.
During your career, you may not practise your profession for a period of time; this may be for many reasons, including extended travel, caring responsibilities, or illness. However, if you are now keen to come back to your profession and resume practising, our organisation is ready to support you. We are here to offer useful advice and support to enable you to refresh those valuable clinical skills and experience.
Return to practice programme
Returnees whose professional registration has elapsed and wish to return to practice must apply to be re-admitted to the register before they can be work under a protected professional title.
We are offering return to practice supervised clinical placements where you can gain valuable updating skills, experience and support to achieve re-registration with the appropriate registration body and go on to apply for a registered role within our Trust. The return to practice programme is flexible, and returnees can decide how to complete their period of updating, ensuring it fits their personal circumstances and learning needs, allowing them to update their knowledge and skills through the self-directed process.
Our return to practice programme includes:
- Supervised clinical placement with an identified clinical supervisor
- Trust induction and access to CPD opportunities
- Professional networking
- Pastoral support
- Support to access Health Education England’s return to practice programme for AHPs
- Advice and help around funding.
Allied Health Professionals
Which allied health professionals can we support in supervised clinical placements?
We can support art therapists, podiatrists, dietitians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and speech and language therapists with supervised clinical placement opportunities.
How long do allied health professionals (AHPs) have to study for to regain registration?
For AHPs, the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) specifies the minimum number of days required for updating, depending on the length of time an individual has been out of practice. No more than 50% of these can comprise private study.
For further details please see the HCPC returning to practice requirements page.
NHS England Return to Practice Programme
NHS England runs a programme to support AHPs to return to practice by offering financial support and advice about the Return to Practice process.
To find out more about the funding offered to returnees along with peer support, take a look at this guide by Health Education England.
More information
To enquire about the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust AHP return to practice programme, please email Tom Challacombe, Clinical Practice Development Lead via thomas.challacombe@nhs.net.
Useful links
- Watch our webinar answering frequently asked questions
- Read why staff from the Integrated Care System chose to return to practice
Nurses
Are you looking to get back to nursing after a career break? Returning to practice is easier than you think, and we are here to support you.
Supervised clinical placements
Working from over 100 sites across Herefordshire and Worcestershire, we can support you to access clinical placements in a range of specialist teams.
How long do Nurses have to study for to regain registration?
If you don’t have an active Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) registration, you can take a return to practice course which usually takes between 3 and 12 months to complete, depending on how long you have been out of practice.
You can access eLearning if you if you still have an active nursing registration but are not working in clinical practice, to help you gain confidence before returning to work.
If you are no longer registered, there are a number of steps you can take dependent on how long you have been away from clinical practice. You may be able to re-register with the NMC without doing a course, or if you have been away for longer, you may be able to join a return to practice course or take a test of competence.
Visit the NHS Health Careers website to get started.
More information
To enquire about returning to practice with us, please email whcnhs.practicefacilitators@nhs.net and we’ll be happy to help.