19.02.18
Ulster competence test centre opens for international nurses
A new competence test centre has opened in Northern Ireland to meet the demand for overseas nurses and midwives wishing to work in the UK.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) test centre is located at Ulster University and has the potential to test 45 candidates per week, which is expected to help reduce waiting times as well as increasing the choice of location for candidates.
The centre, situated in the school of nursing at the university’s Magee campus, is the third test site in the UK; the others being at Oxford Brookes University and the University of Northampton.
Currently there are no waiting lists for the new centre, meaning that overseas nurses will be able to use it immediately.
The test centre will deliver the objective, structured clinical examination (OSCE), which tests applicants’ skills, knowledge and behaviours in a simulated environment, and makes up part two of the competence test required by the NMC to join the UK register as a fully qualified nurse.
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