Nursing Associate

The nursing associate role sits between healthcare support workers and registered nurses, providing direct patient care across a full range of care settings while working under the supervision and direction of registered professionals. It is a relatively new but rapidly growing role within the NHS and independent healthcare sector, designed to bridge a gap in the workforce and to provide patients with more consistent and skilled bedside care. Studying to become a nursing associate means developing a thorough understanding of the human body, of illness and disease, and of how to support people as whole individuals rather than as a collection of clinical problems.

At Teesside University, this two-year full-time programme covers body systems, altered cognition, disability, illness and disease in a way that ensures breadth and balance across all areas. You will engage with all four fields of nursing practice, approaching care with a whole-person perspective that recognises the complexity of individual patients. The curriculum prepares you to work confidently alongside registered nurses and other healthcare professionals, contributing meaningfully to the assessment, planning and delivery of care.

The typical entry tariff is 88 UCAS points.

On completion of the programme, graduates are eligible to apply for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council as a nursing associate, a requirement for practising in the role. Nursing associates work across acute hospital settings, community nursing teams, care homes, mental health services and primary care. Many nursing associates go on to use the Foundation degree or equivalent qualification as a pathway toward full registered nurse status through a top-up nursing degree, making the qualification a stepping stone as well as a destination in its own right.

The role offers a meaningful clinical career with strong employment prospects, and the skills developed are applicable across the full breadth of the health and social care sector.