Guides
Guides to getting into nursing
2 written guides to the decisions the data cannot make for you: which route to take, what the funding rules mean for your budget, how the application is actually judged, and which of the 5 nursing careers this site covers fits the way you want to work.
Choosing a field
Routes and apprenticeships
How these fit with the rest of the site
The generated pages answer questions with figures: what a course costs, which universities are approved for a profession, what band 5 pays in Wales this year, which bursary covers which route. Every one of those numbers is traceable to the body that published it.
These guides do the other half. They explain what the numbers mean when you are the person choosing — why a shorter master's is not automatically the cheaper option, why the border that matters for funding is the one around your university rather than your home, why the profession with the fewest applicants may also be the one you have to move for. Where a guide needs a figure, it links to the page that carries it and its source, rather than repeating a number that will go stale.
Nothing here is advice about your individual circumstances. Funding rules in particular change every academic year — confirm anything you are relying on with the administering body before you commit to a course.
Professions these guides cover
Adult Nurse
Adults of all ages with acute and long-term conditions, and their families, across hospital, outpatient, home and community settings.
Mental Health Nurse
People experiencing a wide range of mental health conditions, across inpatient, specialist and community settings.
Nursing Associate
Patients across all four nursing fields, working alongside healthcare support workers and registered nurses.
Look the numbers up
- All fields of nursing — What each one does, and every way in
- Course finder — Every approved pre-registration course in the UK
- Compare training routes — Degree, master’s or apprenticeship
- Degree apprenticeships — Earn while you train
- Funding and bursaries — All four UK nations, scheme by scheme
- NHS pay bands — Agenda for Change, band by band
- Job market — Where each profession’s workforce sits
- Universities — Providers with approved programmes
Where this page’s data comes from
These guides are written editorial. The profession count, profession names, course counts and starting bands shown on this page come from the sources below.
- NMC register data reports, pre-registration standards and registration codesNursing and Midwifery Council · NMC website terms and conditions (no open licence; clause 6.3 permits reproducing rules/standards/guidance only) · updated annual · checked 3 September 2026
- Royal College of Nursing membership and professional body informationRoyal College of Nursing · No open licence stated; RCN copyright · checked 3 September 2026
- NHS Health Careers role profiles, pay guide and course finderNHS England (Health Careers) · No open licence stated; NHS England (Health Careers) copyright, all rights reserved · updated on-change · checked 3 September 2026
- Skills England apprenticeship standards (Registered Nurse Degree, Nursing Associate)Skills England (Department for Education); formerly Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education · Open Government Licence v3.0 · updated on-change · checked 3 September 2026Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- NHS Learning Support Fund guidanceDepartment of Health and Social Care (administered by NHS Business Services Authority) · Open Government Licence v3.0 · updated annual · checked 3 September 2026Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- NHSBSA Learning Support Fund course-eligibility FAQNHS Business Services Authority · Generic 'all rights reserved' footer on this subdomain; NHSBSA's own OGL policy is not explicitly restated here · updated on-change · checked 3 September 2026
- NMC approved programmes directoryNursing and Midwifery Council · NMC website terms and conditions (no open licence; personal/internal use only) · updated on-change · checked 3 September 2026
- Northern Ireland Department of Health nursing and midwifery bursaryDepartment of Health (Northern Ireland), as described on Queen's University Belfast's fees and finance pages · No licence or copyright statement located on the cited page · updated annual · checked 3 September 2026
- ons.gov.ukCited page
- ons.gov.ukCited page
- legislation.gov.ukCited page
- southampton.ac.ukCited page