V300 Independent and Supplementary Prescribing for Registered Nurses

To be considered for a place on the V300 Independent and Supplementary prescribing programme, you must provide evidence that you meet this entry criteria:

NMC registration
NMC registrants: Registered Nurse (Level 1), midwife or SCPHN, must be registered with the NMC for a minimum of one year prior to applying for entry to the programme, usually with one year’s relevant experience in the clinical field in which they are intending to prescribe

Enhanced DBS
Have a satisfactory enhanced disclosure clearance (DBS), dated within three years of the programme start date.

Academic ability
Have the academic ability to study at the level required for the programme (i.e. academic Level 6 (degree level) or Level 7 (master’s level). Evidence of this is required on the application form.

Experience and skills
Have the ability to practise safely and effectively as a Registered Nurse at a level of proficiency appropriate to the V300 programme and your intended area of prescribing practice in all of the following areas: 
  > clinical/health assessment
  > diagnostics/care management
  > planning/evaluating care

Evidence of this must be supported by evidence on the application form.

Governance arrangements
Your workplace must have appropriate clinical governance arrangements in place for you to practise as a Registered Nurse Independent/Supplementary Prescriber, including indemnity insurance arrangements

Protected learning time 
You are required to attend 24 study sessions/ complete online study, so you will need protected learning time approved by your manager, plus 90 hours of supervised prescriber practice, either in your workplace, or with other prescribers across different learning environments across the programme (26 weeks). These 90 hours must be protected by your employer. Approval of this must be provided by your employer, on the manager's reference form.

Registered Nurses working in independent practice

In addition to the entry requirements above, additional information is required for nurses working in independent practice:

Non NHS and self-employed applicants:
If you are a self-funding applicant, or work independently, in private practice, or external to the NHS, then you will need to assure us that you will have protected learning time to meet the programme requirements at university, study and for the 90 hours of supervised prescriber practice. You must additionally provide information relating to entry criteria that are usually signed off by an NHS manager or non-medical prescribing lead and will be requested to provide the following information:

One professional reference that addresses the points identified above. The referee must be either an NMC/HCPC/GPhC registrant. They must have recent knowledge of your practice and they must be able to provide their professional registration number. They must confirm that you have the ability to practice safely and effectively as a Registered Nurse at a level of proficiency appropriate to the V300 programme and your intended area of prescribing practice in all of the following areas:
  > clinical/health assessment
  > diagnostics/care management
  > planning/evaluating care

On the application form, in the personal statement, you need to provide details of your anticipated prescribing role on completion of the programme, including conditions for which you intend to prescribe.

You need to provide details of the  clinical governance process that will be employed to support the safety of your prescribing, for example indemnity insurance, health and safety legislation.

The budgetary arrangement for your prescribing, e.g. will you be using an NHS prescriber code or private prescription?

Practice Assessor (PA) and Practice Supervisor (PS) commitment:

Your PA and PS must submit commitment forms as part of the application process.

This form requires a declaration of their qualifications and competence as Registered Prescribers to be able to support, supervise and assess you within their role as either Practice Supervisor or Practice Assessor.

This agreement must be provided as part of the application form and assessed by the programme lead. Enrolment will not be complete until the programme team have verified you have the required support in place, and you will not be able to start the programme until we have assurance of this.

If your application is successful, applicants will receive an invitation to enrol. If more information is required, or an applicant requests ‘Recognition for Prior Learning’, then the applicant will attend a short interview with the programme lead to discuss their application.

At this stage, the applicant chooses how to pay the programme fees - several payment options are available.

There are three components to your application:

1.       Your information

2.       Manager’s approval

3.       Practice Supervisor and Practice Assessor commitment

As an applicant, you must complete the application form as part of the admission process to provide evidence that you meet all of the criteria for entry onto the programme.

It can take up to 6 weeks to receive a formal offer, especially if your application form is incomplete, requires information or you do not have a DBS in place. It is best to apply early to avoid disappointment.

The completed application, with manager’s commendation, must be returned to nfaree@ucb.ac.uk 6 weeks before the start of the programme for assessment.

Please ensure that all elements are completed or your application may be rejected.

If you work for a Trust or an employer with a non-medical prescribing lead, they MUST approve your application.

On your application, your non-medical prescribing lead / employer will need to provide supportive evidence that you have:

• at least one year’s experience working in a role with an identified clinical need for prescribing.
• the appropriate knowledge and experience in the area in which you intend to prescribe.
• protected time for the 90 hours of supervised prescribing practice.
• protected time for the 24 days of academic study time.
• the appropriate clinical supervision, clinical governance, and indemnity insurance to cover your future prescribing practice.
• a current Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) check.

The programme team will consider Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) that is capable of being mapped to the RPS Competency Framework for all prescribers. You must request a consideration for this on the application form.

RPL can be applied up to 50% of the programme learning outcomes.

Evidence of prior knowledge, experience, programmes of study (for example V100/V150), study at the same academic level (Level 6 or Level 7) will require formal evidence, for example, transcripts, certificates or manager’s reference.

Employer-sponsored applications/apprenticeships/self funding applicants

If an employer has agreed to fund the programme, or if this programme is an integrated part of a full apprenticeship, then further details will be provided to the employer and funding agreements/ contracts will be required.

Apprentices: If this programme is taken as part of a full Level 6 or Level 7 apprenticeship, then the levy fee arrangement will cover the full programme costs.

Self-funded students: if this programme is taken as part of a full master’s programme, the cost is £8750 (2024-25 cost).

Master’s students can apply for a postgraduate loan to cover the course cost of the full MSc programme:  Funding for postgraduate study - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If all 40 credits are studied as the full V300 standalone programme, at level 6 or level 7, the cost is £2000 (2024-25 cost).