Heart or head for career please help!

[4pmwinetimebebeh]

I am a qualified health professional (similar to a physiotherapist but don’t want to out myself)! I loved my job, loved working with clients/patients but the shifts were inflexible and I wanted a break from the NHS. I moved into higher education and work for my local university in our small town. The hours are amazing- I can take all my leave in the school holidays, I can work flexibly from home. I can work my teaching around my family and I work part time which is good work life balance. But I feel so blah about my job. It’s boring, I miss patients. I’m basically doing it for the benefits. I also worry about my pension which isn’t as good as the NHS one.

Would you stay in my current role for the flexible working and school holidays? Or would you follow your heart and go back to the nhs and what I actually trained in? If I leave HE it would be hard to go back but I imagine relatively easy to get an nhs job these days!

Could you do part time in both?

I’m not sure I could- I do three days a week now and wouldn’t want to do clinical in my days off. I think it would be one or the other really.

Can you do your clinic work on a private basis so as to get the best of both worlds?

Could you go self-employed in your patient facing role so you get to pick and choose your hours?

I think you'd be mad to go back (biased - exhausted NHS worker).

Why not try for a job in a private hospital. It might not be so pressurised.

For me, flexibility is really important at the moment, so I'd stick it out, at least until my children were more independent (mine are tweens, so I have a few years left) and then move back.

We'll all be working until we drop, so you probably have a long time to work until you retire and so you have plenty of time to do different things. I said this because it could well feel like a life sentence being stuck in a meh job, but it doesn't have to be forever.

If you feel like you'd be happier back in thr NHS regardless, go for it.

Life over work for me. I’d prioritise the job which allows you flexibility and less stress. Life is short.

I'm in a similar position to you in that I've prioritised the sensible boring job with flexible hours and good benefits while my kids are young. Could you stick it out for a few more years and go back to patient facing when your children have finished school?

@hertsgirls yeah I could do and that’s the sensible thing to do. I just can’t bear the thought of being bored out of my mind for another 8/9 years and deskilling in the job I actually love and enjoy. But it is the sensible thing to do, I just worry I’ll waste a chunk of time when I could be working my way up in my career where I want to be. It’s interesting that objectively most of you think I should stay as that’s my quandary!

Could you do research? You have clinical skills and I can't imagine there wouldn't be some sort of research/trial role where you could use those and work with patients. I work for a university in a research role and have regular patient contact, but still lots of flexibility and independence in my work.