Former nurses are set to get back into Oxfordshire hospitals after completing an intensive three-month return to practice course.

Oxford Brookes University has run the course, which is aimed at nurses who have been away from the profession for three or more years, in its current form since 2006.

Twenty-two former nurses have completed the scheme, which includes work placements in the county, and most have already secured jobs in the NHS.

Josie Knapp, 32, from Shippon, near Abingdon, moved to China with her husband shortly after qualifying so never practiced as a nurse.

After the course, she was offered a job as a staff nurse in the recovery department of the John Radcliffe Hospital’s west wing and is due to start later this month.

She said: “Just rolling up your sleeves and getting back into the practical nursing side of things was quite scary so the course was really good because it was based around practical skills, and you could do as many hours in your placement as you wanted as long as you did the minimum requirement.

“It’s very difficult to walk back on to a ward when you’ve been out for any length of time but I am looking forward to it.”

Many of the nurses who completed the course originally left nursing to start a family.

Among them was Carole Harrison, 44, who is now hoping to work at the Horton Hospital in Banbury.

She said: “Now my children are teenagers and far more independent, I wanted to get my career back.

“Nursing is something I wanted to do as a little girl and it gives me real job satisfaction.

“I think it’s a combination of interaction with the patients and staff plus feeling that you are doing something really useful.”

Mrs Harrison, who qualified as a nurse at 18 and spent 10 years working as a nurse and then midwife, completed her work placement as a district nurse in Banbury.

The course is aimed at adult and children’s nurses, health visitors, learning disability nurses, mental health nurses and midwives.

About 98 per cent of nurses who retrain at Oxford Brookes go on to find employment locally.

Course leader Mary Hopper said: “I am delighted that our students are now able to take their places as qualified nurses and midwives.

“Nurses returning to practice make a really important contribution to the health care workforce as they bring with them the variety and maturity of previous life and clinical experience.”

The course costs about £750 and funding is available from Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust.

It will run again from September 2009.

More information is available from the website at returntopractice@brookes.ac.uk fbardsley@oxfordmail.co.uk