Can you earn a decent living working 'full time' on a nurse bank?

[PebbleStone22]

I've been a nurse for ten years. Worked my way up to band 7, but currently a part time band 6. 30 hours.

I am thinking of leaving my current role and using the nurse bank as my sole income.

Has anyone done this? Is it worth it?

I should also have mentioned:

I will be applying as a band 5. I currently earn £1700 p/m.

Is this sort of money possible on the bank?

Depends on the Trust really. In my Trust they are desperately short of qualified nurses so loads of bank shifts available across the Trust each day, so could easily work full-time just on bank.

The main things I would consider is no sick or holiday pay though, and way that up against the flexibility to work when you like / less responsibility.

It really depends on how motivated to work you are. I would have too many days off I think! On our trust bank you would get the shifts and could pick the wards you wanted.

It would just be if all good ones get snapped up and when I have done bank some regular staff are a bit bitchy

Thank you. I didn't consider the no holiday pay aspect of it.

We are also desperate for trained nurses here too. There will always be work.

I just worry about the lack of security that comes with a permanent contract

My nurse bank pays holidays and continues in the pension scheme, you need to look up your local trust. Agency pays much better. We often get long stints on the banks, anything from one week to 3 month placements. There is always plenty of work, once they get to know you though you can be left in charge so it's not always so different. You may only get a b5 pay.

Lack of security with perm contract?

I meant lack of security on the bank

Has anyone done this and found it was better for them? I like the idea of a varied work place

I've considered the same myself Pebble (going over to just doing bank) but to be honest the lack of security if I were to ever need time off work for an injury, illness etc and then having to manage with no income at all puts me off.

I think if you do it you need to have a cash 'emergency fund' which would be able to see you through a few months with no income if you were unable to work for a period.

Most of our night staff are permanent bank. You can ask if they offer short term contracts. If youre bank you are employed by the trust so nurses responsibilities are the same. The days of Im only bank/agency are over.

Could you reduce hours and pick up odd bank?

Pp, I think this may be the route I go down. I can reduce to 22.5.

When I was on bank (not nursing) I did get some inbuilt holiday pay. However, I did not get sick pay.

I am now in a permanent role (non nursing) and my bank work doesn’t count for continuous service so whilst I have now worked 5 years plus in the NHS I haven’t had my leave increased and when I went on long term sick I had less entitlement to sick leave as well.

How would that affect your pension?

Depends on the trust

I’m band 3 and earn more than £1700 a month doing just bank. I have been doing it for a few years now and never had a problem earning money or booking shifts.

I am also in the pension, I get 220 annual leave hours each year aswell as maternity pay. No sick pay though, instead I pay a set amount each month to a private company who will pay out if I have a sick note

Interesting thread, I have also wondered similar. Would you not join an agency rather than nurse bank, if it's a variety of locations you are looking for? More money. Could do it as well as bank.

@Loveablers roughly how many shifts do you do a month?

I know people who just do NHSP. They love the flexibility it gives them. Plenty of work.

Sick pay, holiday pay and pension come to mind.

I have bank who work part time somewhere else and then do bank shifts for us on top

@PebbleStone22

Minimum I do is 16 nights a month (4 a week) and bring over just over £2100. If I do Saturday nights it’s more than that. Sometimes I do 5 a week if I can be bothered or am saving up for something.

My friend only works days, does 3 long days a week, and brings home £1700

I honestly could not go back to being given a rota. I’m lucky that my trust has plenty shifts out, I can pick and choose when I work, I know if I need time off I can have it and don’t have to request it, and I know I get every Christmas off.

I only do bank work! I base myself between 3 departments in the hospital and find it’s kept a lot of my skills up. Definitely easy to make money on the bank as you can work as much as you want.
However, I am going back to a permenant contract for security reasons and I struggle to budget being paid weekly (even though the combination of only doing nights and weekends as bank staff means I earn more than I did being paid monthly as permenant staff)