A healthcare assistant who had her nursing degree downgraded due to a placement hours mix-up has said the experience left her questioning whether she still wanted to be a nurse.
Zivile Gumauskaite began an adult nursing degree at the University of West London (UWL) – which has contested Ms Gumauskaite’s version of events – in 2020.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do”
Zivile Gumauskaite
She said, by July 2024, she had completed all of the academic components of her degree, including coursework and her dissertation.
In addition, she had just finished a final work placement at a hospital in London, which was needed to qualify for Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) registration as a nurse after she graduated.
This final placement, seven weeks long, was finished and signed off with no issue, Ms Gumauskaite claimed.
A few weeks later, she said she received an email from a UWL staff member informing her that her placement hours had been recalculated and that she still had to complete an additional 42 hours or not receive her nursing degree.
However, by this point, out of financial necessity, Ms Gumauskaite had returned full time to her pre-university job as a healthcare assistant working for a nurse-led complex care organisation based in London.
This, she said, meant she did not have the time to complete a full working week of additional placements.
“I was just completely overwhelmed, and I was already [doing a] full time job because I didn’t get any maintenance money or anything,” she said.
Ms Gumauskaite said she asked if she could complete the additional hours via other means, such as simulation training, in order to work around her work schedule.
However, the university declined, she said, and she was withdrawn from the course.
Zivile Gumauskaite
A letter from January 2025 confirmed her withdrawal, and stated that she had completed 2,258 out of the 2,300 necessary hours for NMC registration.
Instead of her bachelor of nursing degree, Ms Gumauskaite was given a bachelor of science degree in healthcare, due to the withdrawal.
The qualification she received constituted an “exit degree”, which is given to people who do not complete their full honours degree.
As well as this not being the qualification she worked towards at university, due to the missing placement hours she is not eligible for NMC registration.
Ms Gumauskaite said she was told that, if she wanted to go back at a later date to complete her course, she would have to re-do 50% of her academic studies, as well as further placement hours.
“Basically I need to start again… which is just ridiculous because I’ve done everything,” she told Nursing Times.
“I passed my dissertation, I passed all the modules, I passed my placements, my [electronic placement hours system] got signed off, which said I was recommended for NMC registration.
“Then because of these hours, they’re not doing it. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
The experience has left her questioning whether she wants to continue working towards becoming a nurse.
Ms Gumauskaite added: “This situation has caused me significant stress, anxiety and disappointment in the education and healthcare systems.
“At a time when the NHS faces severe nursing shortages, it is deeply disheartening that I cannot practice as a nurse.
“I am now left with considerable student debt… and without the ability to practice as a nurse, I have no means to advance my career or repay these financial obligations.”
A spokesperson for the University of West London told Nursing Times that it “refutes claims” made by the student and that it had information to support this.
However, the spokesperson was unable to share this information and said it would be “inappropriate to comment on an individual student’s situation”.
An NMC spokesperson, similarly, said it would not be appropriate to discuss the case, but that they were “aware of the steps the university has taken to try and support this individual”.
They further said that the matter was not related to placement hours issues other universities have faced in recent years that have, in some cases, led to delays in students entering the NMC register.
