Accreditation Criteria
The following accreditation levels will assist you in deciding whether you meet the requirements. If you do not have the required evidence, you should not submit an application, as it is unlikely to be successful and we are unable to refund your application fee.
Practitioner accreditation 3-yearly accreditation fee £60
Competency
Practitioner accreditation demonstrates that you’re able to use your general nursing skills and work in occupational health nursing in your specific area of practice, as part of a team or under supervision of an OH Nurse Specialist. It shows that you have specific knowledge and skills in a range of occupational health functions and activities. You can use the post nominals PFOHN.
Achievement
You can remain at this level or, if you want to broaden your knowledge, experience and skills, you could see this as a steppingstone to Specialist Practitioner accreditation status. Either way, Practitioner accreditation demonstrates your commitment to providing good quality services in occupational health nursing, either as a generalist or providing specific activities e.g., attendance management, fitness for work health assessment and research.
What's
If you provide occupational health nursing services in a particular area of practice and are considering applying for a foundation or specialist course in occupational health, this could be the right membership grade for you. Find out more about the different requirements for your application.
Education
What type and level of qualification you need.
Main requirement
You need to be a Registered Nurse and have the required skills training for your areas of practice. You should have completed at least 12 hours of CPD in the preceding year and be operating to clinical standards and procedures, with supervision of your practice in place.
Work Experience
How much experience you need and how to document it.
Main requirements
You need to have carried out occupational health nursing practice for at least 100 days over a period of at least 2 years. You should have carried out at least 3 significant activities or projects during that time.
How to show this in your application
You’ll need to complete a logbook detailing your activities or projects. Your logbook is a key part of your application as it demonstrates to the assessors the occupational health work that you’ve undertaken over your minimum 2-year period. It should contain separate records of between 3 and 5 significant activities over the period. This information can then be used as part of your NMC revalidation records and vice versa.
There must be at least 100 days’ work undertaken during that period (part time occupational health work is pro rata, e.g., 40 half days = 20 full days). If you have worked on a long-term project, you can break it down and record it as several smaller activities.
Each logbook record should not exceed 500 words and comprise:
- A brief summary of the activity and personal involvement.
- Details of the work involved. For example, provide a list of reports that you have produced, the names of particular methods, tools and techniques that you used. Include reference to conference proceedings, training delivery or journal articles relating to your logbook entry.
- A description of the outputs from the work and your contribution.
- An indication of your degree of responsibility, level of authority and description of your role in the project, role or activity.
- Reflection on the successful and less successful features of each project or activity.
- Details of how this work demonstrates personal development and relevance to the NMC Code.
You must submit supporting evidence of your NMC Revalidation CPD and Practice Hours.
Competence
What competence you need and how to link it to your work.
Main requirement
You have at least an Awareness (proficiency level 1) of 50% of the competencies listed in the FOHN Professional Competency Checklist and have an intermediate proficiency level 3 across at least one area of competency.
How to show this in your application
A checklist has been developed by the FOHN as a guide to expected competencies for an occupational health nurse specialist. It can be used in conjunction with a proficiency scale to show progress in breadth and depth of skills and expertise as your career progresses.
The checklist forms part of the application for Practitioner membership to help demonstrate breadth (through the number) and depth (through levels of proficiency) of claimed competencies.
You will need to give evidence for all proficiency claims at level 3 or above. Examples of these could be logbook entries, training courses, reports or a publication.
Referees
You will need one referee who is an Occupational Health Nurse Specialist.
Main requirement
You will need one referee who is an Occupational Health Nurse Specialist.
How to show this in your application
You referees must know you well enough to form a robust opinion of your professional work and status. Their report is an important part of your application and must show strong support for it.
Download our referee report example (here)
Get recognised for your commitment to improving health and wellbeing at work and join our community today!
Simple Pricing
You will pay an annual membership fee of £10. Plus we will invoice you for £60 when you go through accreditation
Ready to apply?
If you think you’re ready to apply, this is what you’ll need to do.
- Complete the Professional Competency Checklist. Download the checklist (here)
- Create your logbook entries. Download the blank logbook template (here) and example (here)
- Gather the evidence to back up your logbook entries, competency checklist and NMC Revalidation CPD and practice hours.
- Fill in an application form. Practitioner application form (here)
- Email the application form to us, together with the Checklist, logbook and evidence.
- Contact your referee and ask them to prepare and send us their referee reports. Download the report template and example (template – example) to send to them.
- Pay the £10 membership using the online system plus the £60 application fee when you receive our invoice. (here)