Return to practice

You may have left your healthcare profession for a wide range of reasons. We can help you return to practice and rejoin the healthcare professionals' registers. This includes the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC) or Nursing and Midwife Council (NMC) registers.

We support the Health Education England Return to Practice scheme, which enables Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) who have been off the HCPC register for two or more years to re-register and return to work.

Return to Practice programme

The programme allows you to refresh your professional skills and knowledge while working under the supervision of a registered AHP.

You will:

be part of the team
benefit from in-house professional education
have access specialist clinical areas tailored to your learning needs

About the programme

Start date: Anytime - you can begin when you are ready.

Location: Across, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Bedfordshire and Luton, Norfolk and Waveney, and Suffolk.

Cost: Free. You can claim up to £800 to cover out-of-pocket expenses and study costs.

Duration: Up to 2 years.

The programme is open to:

former HCPC registrants who live in England and plan to return to work in England
people who completed a UK HCPC-approved programme more than 5 years ago but never registered or practised
registrants who remained on the HCPC register but haven't practised for over two years and consider themselves out of practice

For full eligibility details, visit the Health Education England website.

Updating skills and knowledge

When returning to practice, you will need to go through a period of updating your skills and knowledge. Returning to practice is self-directed but the Return to Practice programme will support you. You can choose to complete your updating evidence through different routes, in line with HCPC guidance.

If you have been out of practice for 2 to 4 years, you will need to 30 days of updating your skills and knowledge.

If you have been out of practice for 5 years or more, you will need to do 60 days of updating your skills and knowledge.

Contact us

Thinking about returning to practice?

If you are thinking about returning to practice, please contact us. We can have an informal chat about you returning to practice with us.

If you are unsure, we may offer shadowing opportunities so that you can experience what the services are like now.

Email: ccs.trainingandeducation@nhs.net