Being a nurse in the army

Hello,

Lots of nurses are based in the UK, but they will still deploy on operations and exercises abroad. While the army does encourage serving personnel to submit preferences on where they wish to be based, it is not always possible to place someone in their first choice job/location. It is one of the downsides to the job, but there are lots of upsides to, it is just weighing up what is most important to you. If you start an application you don't have to commit to joining, but it will enable you to speak to the QARANC team and they may be able to give you some more insight into how postings work for nurses and how often you will work abroad and what roles you are likely to work in.

Thankyou for this answer. To add to it, are there any nursing roles available in the army where you can be based in once place? Or does the nature of it stay the same, where if you choose this job you have to accept that you will be uprooted and moved wherever the needs lay?

In short, the nature of the Army does mean that unfortunately we do have to be flexible in terms of location.
Is there anything in particular you are concerned about in terms of moving? I'll go through some of the common concerns people have just in case.

Accommodation - the Army will always provide you with accommodation - if you are single this will be a room on or near a camp along with other soldiers/officers. If you are married they will give you a house (size dependent on family size/rank), and if you are in a long term relationship they will try and give you a house, but it is not guaranteed in areas where housing is in short supply. If you are in a house and you are posted to another area, the Army arranges for, and pays, a moving company to pack everything for you (and unpack - but from experience it is often easier to unpack yourself!). Accommodation is excellent value compared to the private rental market. Each time you move there is some financial reimbursement.

Friends/family - family is the tricky part, there is some expectation that your family follows you around. If you choose to live apart from your family then you get extra pay to enable to you to travel home. You will make great friends wherever you go, it is a small community and we all move a lot, so we know it can be daunting and everyone makes an effort to be friendly.

Children - I don't have children, but from what I know from friends, schools and nurseries near military bases are used to us moving around and accept that children will come and go, they will also receive some extra funding for each military child they have. Some military bases have their own nurseries. If your children are older, the Army may provide funding towards boarding school fees so that your children don't have to move schools all the time.

The military is aware that family life and serving can sometimes be difficult, so they are slowly introducing things like flexible working and non deployable roles, but at present you can't do those indefinitely. They are also one of the more generous employers when it comes to maternity/paternity/shared parental leave. Women returning from maternity leave are non deployable for at least 6 months from the date they return to work.

Each time you are due a new posting you will be asked to fill in a form saying which job you would like and why, while they can't keep us happy all of the time, they do try! I hope that helps, if you have any other questions please do let me know.

I'm a single mum wanting to train as a nurse. Me and my sons dad share custody. What's people opinions?

There is plenty of opportunities as a nurse and the army has lots of schemes to help people with children such as child care ETC. so you'll still be able to train and have family time too.
just bear in mind that sometimes the job may require you to be away from home so something should be arranged or planned beforehand but if its the route that you want to take then I would take it.

Hello, I have applied to join as a student army nurse and will be attending University in January. When I have qualified are you aware of how often/how long I will be deployed for? For example, could it be for longer than 6 months at a time or will it be less? Thankyou!

deployments can vary in time depending on what is required operationally they do usually last between 6-8 months but can be shorter depending on what is required

I am currently in my first year of studying as an adult nurse. I have always wanted to join the military like my parents. I am married and I have my two cats. I am wandering if it is possible to live with both my husband and pets whilst being a nurse in the army. How often are nurses deployed and how long is this usually for? I understand you can join the army as a nurse as an officer or soldier. How would you know which is the best route to take?

Hi Naomi,
Yes, you can live with both your husband and pets while being a nurse in the army. Usually the limiting factor is whether your husband can move to live with you!
All married soldiers and officers are entitled to apply for 'married quarters', these are houses near military bases. The size depends on either how big your family is (for soldiers) or your rank (for officers). The military are currently looking at changing the housing policy, but there are no firm plans on that yet. Each time you move to a new job you will be allocated a new house (if that is what you wish).
You are allowed pets in your house, you will just need to declare it when you apply.

Nurses can deploy fairly regularly, but it will depend on what they specialise in and which regiment they are currently working for. I have known nurses to deploy once in 3 years, and nurses who have deployed twice in the same year. Usually deployments last for 6 weeks to 6 months, but the longer deployments often involve a small break in the middle.

You are correct in that you can join as either a soldier or an officer. It's a personal choice and it depends what you want to achieve during your career. Officers will tend to take on more managerial roles and more army officer type roles earlier in their career. If you are unsure which route to go down, it is best to speak to someone from the recruitment team about your options. Their details can be found on the bottom of their website https://www.army.mod.uk/who-we-are/corps-regiments-and-units/army-medical-services/

I hope that helps. Best of luck with your application!