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Occupational health nurse

Alternative titles for this job include

Occupational health nurses care for the health and wellbeing of people at work.

Average salary (a year)

£31,000 Starter

to

£55,000 Experienced

Typical hours (a week)

37 to 40

You could work

evenings / weekends on a rota

How to become

Explore the different ways to get into this role.

How to become

You can get into this job through an apprenticeship or by working towards this role.

Apprenticeship

If you're a qualified registered nurse or midwife, you could do a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse Level 7 Degree Apprenticeship.

This usually takes a year and 6 months to complete and is a mix of learning at work and study at an accredited university.

Entry requirements

To do this apprenticeship, you'll need:

  • to be a registered nurse

More Information

Work

You could apply to become an occupational health nurse if you're already a registered nurse and have the support of your employer.

You could take a qualification like an approved programme in Specialist Community Public Health Nursing - Occupational Health Nursing (SCPHN - OHN).

There's usually no minimum amount of post-registration experience needed. However entry requirements can vary between universities who offer the programme.

More Information

Registration

Further information

You can find out more about how to become an occupational health nurse from Health Careers.

What it takes

Find out what skills you’ll use in this role.

What it takes

Skills and knowledge

You'll need:

  • knowledge of medicine and nursing
  • sensitivity and understanding
  • a desire to help people
  • the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
  • to be thorough and pay attention to detail
  • patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
  • the ability to work well with others
  • thinking and reasoning skills
  • to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently

What you’ll do

Discover the day to day tasks you’ll do in this role.

What you'll do

Day-to-day tasks

In this role you could:

  • carry out pre-employment medical checks
  • assess and treat employees who are injured or become ill at work
  • provide counselling and support
  • give advice on health education, health and safety and sickness absence
  • carry out risk assessments and keep employee health records

Working environment

You could work in an NHS or private hospital or at a client's business.

Your working environment may be physically demanding.

You may need to wear a uniform.

Career path and progression

Look at progression in this role and similar opportunities.

Career path and progression

With experience you could:

  • move into management and lead a team of occupational health staff or run an occupational health centre
  • become self-employed and work as an occupational health consultant
  • work for a private company
  • take extra qualifications and go into nurse education or research

Current opportunities

Find apprenticeships, courses and jobs available near you.

Current opportunities

Apprenticeships In England

We can't find any apprenticeship vacancies in England for an occupational health nurse right now.

The Find an apprenticeship service can help you with your search, send alerts when new apprenticeships become available and has advice on how to apply.

Courses In England

Access to HE - Nursing

  • Provider: Harrow, Richmond & Uxbridge Colleges (HRUC)
  • Start date: 09 September 2025
  • Location: Harrow

Access to HE Diploma (Nursing)

  • Provider: MACCLESFIELD COLLEGE
  • Start date: 08 September 2025
  • Location: Macclesfield
Find courses near you

Jobs In the United Kingdom

The Find a job service can help you with your search for jobs and send alerts when new jobs become available.

Search further careers

Related careers

Skills assessment

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