Nursing placement

Hi im starting my nursing course in September 2025 , I am 30 years old own a house have 2 small kids and a husband .. I’m worried that my placements will be really far and I can’t afford to live away for weeks as I have home and kids to look after so was wondering if there is any support with the placements ? Like do they take parents into consideration? For example let us have the closest placement for example? Or anything? Really worried 😟

Hi im starting my nursing course in September 2025 , I am 30 years old own a house have 2 small kids and a husband .. I’m worried that my placements will be really far and I can’t afford to live away for weeks as I have home and kids to look after so was wondering if there is any support with the placements ? Like do they take parents into consideration? For example let us have the closest placement for example? Or anything? Really worried 😟

Hi im starting my nursing course in September 2025 , I am 30 years old own a house have 2 small kids and a husband .. I’m worried that my placements will be really far and I can’t afford to live away for weeks as I have home and kids to look after so was wondering if there is any support with the placements ? Like do they take parents into consideration? For example let us have the closest placement for example? Or anything? Really worried 😟

My neighbour has just finished her nursing degree as a single parent with 2 children. All her placements were within travelling distance from home. These included hospital wards, surgeries, distric nursing, hospices etc. Good luck - Debbie got a 1st and is now eorking with the district nurses where she did one of her placements!

I can't speak for all unis, but they do generally ask if you have reasons for choosing a particular location. Will you be studying at a uni in England? If so, additional accommodation and travel expenses are paid for by the NHS LSF (within limits).

They say within 90minuets travel, but depending where you live there generally near your house/in the nearest town. If i drove my farthest one away would have been about 20 minuets/half hour, but because im on the bus it took a lot longer. But it all depends where you live

I really hope so I can’t imagine driving 1,5h to 12h shift and then 1.5h back and I definitely wouldn’t be able to live away while I got 2 little kids this is why I’m hoping there is a way that I could do placements little closer don’t mind 30-45min travel but will see thank you for reply !

Every university is linked to their geographically closest hospitals and community services.
For example, University of Chester has the Chester base but also satellite sites in Warrington, Birkenhead and Crewe. Students based in Chester get placements predominantly in Chester and the surrounding area; I've occasionally mentored Chester students who have had to go to placements on the Wirral (max. 30 mins drive) or Gobowen ortho hospital (40 mins' drive), wiith a couple of students doing one 6-week placement in Crewe. Similar for Birkenhead/Warrington/Crewe students getting placements predominantly in that area.
Uni of Liverpool/John Moore's nursing students, 45+ mins away? We don't see them, their placements are all in Liverpool area. Manchester/MMU/Salford students, 60-90 mins away? We don't see them, their placements are all in Manchester/Salford.
As long as the university you'll be going to is close by, all your placements will be reasonably close.

Hi im starting my nursing course in September 2025 , I am 30 years old own a house have 2 small kids and a husband .. I’m worried that my placements will be really far and I can’t afford to live away for weeks as I have home and kids to look after so was wondering if there is any support with the placements ? Like do they take parents into consideration? For example let us have the closest placement for example? Or anything? Really worried 😟

Oh wow that’s amazing ! I hope my uni will be okay with that too ! I’m going Derby university it’s about 25 min drive from my house x

Hi!
Congrats on your offer😊.
Universities do try to take personal circumstances into account, but it many not always be guaranteed. It's definitely worth reaching out to your placement team early to explain your situation. I've known students who were able to get placements closer to home due to certain circumstances or responsibilities, but they usually had to provide supporting documents.
From my experience, staying on top of your rota and planning ahead really helps. I always made sure to communicate with my placement team and mentors if i had any concerns or challenges, and that made things much easier. It may be worth checking which trusts, community or private healthcare your university is affiliated with to get an idea of where they likely send students on placements and using the locations to check the distance from home? Also, arranging childcare in advance could be helpful in any situation and checking if your university offers any financial support for travel or placement expenses, also, schemes like the NHS Learning Support Fund can help.
Have you spoken to the university yet about placement allocations?
-Annabel (Kingston student rep)

Every university is linked to their geographically closest hospitals and community services.
For example, University of Chester has the Chester base but also satellite sites in Warrington, Birkenhead and Crewe. Students based in Chester get placements predominantly in Chester and the surrounding area; I've occasionally mentored Chester students who have had to go to placements on the Wirral (max. 30 mins drive) or Gobowen ortho hospital (40 mins' drive), wiith a couple of students doing one 6-week placement in Crewe. Similar for Birkenhead/Warrington/Crewe students getting placements predominantly in that area.
Uni of Liverpool/John Moore's nursing students, 45+ mins away? We don't see them, their placements are all in Liverpool area. Manchester/MMU/Salford students, 60-90 mins away? We don't see them, their placements are all in Manchester/Salford.
As long as the university you'll be going to is close by, all your placements will be reasonably close.

Hi im starting my nursing course in September 2025 , I am 30 years old own a house have 2 small kids and a husband .. I’m worried that my placements will be really far and I can’t afford to live away for weeks as I have home and kids to look after so was wondering if there is any support with the placements ? Like do they take parents into consideration? For example let us have the closest placement for example? Or anything? Really worried 😟

I already have a childminder but I can’t afford to live away during placements because my kids a little and I don’t want to be away from home for few weeks as it won’t be good for them and it wouldn’t be possible even with childminder as I can’t put all that pressure on my husband having to get kids ready dropping them off then picking them up doing all the house work and everything by him self that’s why I was wondering if they’ll be able to let me go to placements reasonably close so I really hope as you mentioned that they will look at the circumstances.. and not yet I’m still waiting to accept the offer as they offered me a place but I had to send some documents over before they can go forward so once they update it all I’ll be able to accept and then hopefully will get all the information time tables etc . Thank you for your reply xx

Hi im starting my nursing course in September 2025 , I am 30 years old own a house have 2 small kids and a husband .. I’m worried that my placements will be really far and I can’t afford to live away for weeks as I have home and kids to look after so was wondering if there is any support with the placements ? Like do they take parents into consideration? For example let us have the closest placement for example? Or anything? Really worried 😟

I already have a childminder but I can’t afford to live away during placements because my kids a little and I don’t want to be away from home for few weeks as it won’t be good for them and it wouldn’t be possible even with childminder as I can’t put all that pressure on my husband having to get kids ready dropping them off then picking them up doing all the house work and everything by him self that’s why I was wondering if they’ll be able to let me go to placements reasonably close so I really hope as you mentioned that they will look at the circumstances.. and not yet I’m still waiting to accept the offer as they offered me a place but I had to send some documents over before they can go forward so once they update it all I’ll be able to accept and then hopefully will get all the information time tables etc . Thank you for your reply xx