Naturally, you must be a Registered Nurse in your home country. Also, you must have practiced for at least one year to qualify for registration here. The UK has just one licensing board – the Nursing and Midwifery Council. You must register with this board to be eligible to work in the UK. Not only will we help you step by step, we’ll pay for most of it.

Not from us, of course. Getting your UK nursing license will involve fees. However, with our new and improved package we’ll reimburse you for the bulk of these. If you have never applied for another license (or even if you have), getting registered can seem to be a complicated process. We will make it simple and easy. There are four distinct steps to UK registration: proving English language competency, a theory test, an application and a clinical test. But that’s why you are so valuable when you arrive in the UK — only the best will qualify and only the adventurous will bother. We make the procedure as painless as possible and then the day you’re registered, your stock will soar.

There are many variables, such as how long it takes your Board of Nursing to send the necessary papers. But in general, you should expect up to six months from the time you decide to explore travel nursing and your first assignment. Obviously, nursing is a highly skilled, highly in-demand profession. UK countries very much want your talents, but they also must maintain certain standards. Continental Nurse only works with nurses who have received the best training in the world. That’s why our reputation is sterling and why you will be so in-demand.

Again, once you are licensed in the UK, we can place you very quickly. As you probably know, there is a chronic nursing shortage around the world. Your services are very in-demand.

We know it can be disorienting to work at a new job, much less a new job in a new country. One thing you don’t have to worry about is getting to work. Continental Nurse makes certain your housing is located with easy access to your job. That means either living physically near by or more often living with easy access to public transportation that gets you to work with a very easy commute. You’ll find public transport makes working and relaxing a treat. You’ll never be isolated from work or fun, so transportation to work or that fun new hotspot simply won’t be a problem. We make sure of it.

We seek to provide upmarket places in nice, safe neighbourhoods with good public transport links. We aim for housing that is as close to the hospital as possible.

Travel nurses are typically paid slightly more than the staff nurses they work alongside in the hospitals. And of course your excellent housing is subsidized. You can expect your take-home pay to allow you plenty of funds to enjoy yourself while you explore Europe.

Your pay will be direct deposited into a UK bank account every fortnight (i.e. every two weeks). We’ll help you set up that account.

Unfortunately, you can’t avoid paying taxes. However, most countries have tax agreements with the UK. The taxes you pay in the UK may be credited to your home country — in other words, you won’t be taxed twice. A number of countries — including the U.S. — also offer serious tax breaks to their citizens working overseas. You’ll need to speak with a tax consultant in your home country for how this may or may not apply.

Twelve-hour shifts are becoming more popular, but straight shifts — unless you are in a clinic or theatre — are almost non-existent. You may find that the level of responsibility is less than you are used to (a very nice thing indeed). The working week is 37.5 hours long. In all assignments, specialty pay and/or charge pay may be added. As a traveller, being in charge of your floor is the exception rather than the rule. All assignments have enhanced pay for nights and Saturdays and even more for Sundays and public holidays.

Every thirteen week assignment carries with it some travel money – designed to help get you from one assignment to the next. Remember: traveling even from the south of England to the north of Scotland takes less than eight hours by train, so it’s never a strenuous journey. The travel money is paid at the beginning of your assignment but is earned upon completion of the thirteen weeks. Should you stay in the same location and extend for a further assignment, you will still earn another full allowance.

As part of the local hospital team, you wear the uniform of the regular staff (which is supplied to you by the hospital) and work on the same rotations as the “regular” staff. On the other hand, there are the rather old-fashioned black shoes and black stockings most Hospital Trusts require their female nursing staff to wear. It could be worse — nursing caps were phased out of public hospitals only within the past 20 years!

Yes. Talk to us about further details.

As if an attractive hourly rate, a short-term commitment, upmarket accommodations and even travel money aren’t enough, as a Continental Nurse employee you will receive twenty eight days paid vacation annually, statutory sick pay, professional indemnity insurance coverage and help with registration costs. Travelers will receive OSCE training, OSCE reimbursement along with reimbursement for the CBT. In return for a commitment, we will pay for the registration tests and provide training for the clinical test.

Absolutely. And you don’t need to wait for a break. Getting to Europe is a breeze: flights are very inexpensive and flying time is about an hour and a half to more than a dozen countries. Combine a cheap, quick flight with clever shift scheduling and you can easily find yourself in Paris or Rome on a three or four day excursion. If you’re coming to the UK with the desire to take extended time off to see the rest of Europe, Continental Nurse is ideal. You can work an assignment, save up some holiday money and then spend a few weeks or even months traveling the Continent. (We’re always ready to offer travel suggestions and helpful tips.) Then you can return to the UK for another assignment with Continental so you can “top up” your bank account and plan your next adventure.

Travel nursing as a method of staffing started in the United States in the late 1970s. It was a response to the seasonal surge of elderly people visiting Florida and other southern states during the winter months and the consequent short-term but predictable rise in the need for hospital beds and nurses.

What began as a seasonal phenomenon quickly developed into the preferred way for hospitals to deal with chronic staffing shortages. The participating hospital gets the benefit of experienced competent nurses who are part of their team for at least three months, not simply fill-in agency nurses who are “here today and gone tomorrow.”