What job can I do instead? Devastated

[treetea]

I have been working towards a midwifery degree since 2019 and I now cannot continue due to a health issue that doesn't affect me day-to-day, but that they feel makes me unsafe to practice.

It is my dream, I have never wanted to do anything else. I was going to use the degree to set up my own business.

I am now at a loss? I have a 4 year old DS and live alone with him.

I am generally quite intelligent, but not a fan of mathematics.

I'd ideally like something with high (ish) earning potential, but I'd settle for less if I loved it.

I don't want to be in healthcare anymore.

I just can't see myself starting from scratch, I'm absolutely gutted.

You literally said in a previous response "The NHS don't pay me to train, I pay.". A large number of publicly funded students (your loans are literally funded by taxation) are never repaid - your studies are publicly funded until you've fully repaid them.

Almost all higher education is delivered by publicly funded universities and it is not predicated on an assumption that graduates will only ever work in the public sector (bankers, lawyers, tech developers, engineers, surveyors are all 'publicly funded' by your definition, but go on to work in a range of sectors).

Education is generally thought of as a 'public good' bringing benefits to wider society, including higher skills and tax receipts, which play a role in national economic prosperity, as well as benefits associated with health and social cohesion.

Loans are paid for by tax payers (rather than the NHS) until they are repaid.

Not sure why you are giving OP such a hard time on this, especially as her preference would be to continue with plan A in the NHS?.

I agree with @Annarabbit ... no one berates students of degrees that are unlikely to ever land them a job and tells them that the NHS is paying for them.. I know nurses and medics who feel an obligation to serve the community because their training was paid for (before fees were introduced).. bankers, business owners, people who never work in the area of their degrees.. feel no such obligation.

OP, I'm a disabled medical student. I've been disabled since birth and I have many friends and family members whose disabilities are much more severe and pervasive than mine. One thing that we all have in common is well-intentioned people unfairly doubting our capabilities and assuming we can't manage things when we can.

Occupational health can be an amazing supportive resource for disabled healthcare professionals. It can also be the opposite. Medical personnel aren't infallible and sometimes they fail to recognise that adjustments could be safely, reasonably, and easily made - not because they're malicious, but because they just can't conceive that another way of doing things exists.

Healthcare professionals with epilepsy exist. I've met two. One is a nurse on a critical care cardiac unit. One is a paediatric neurologist. Unless your epilepsy is extremely brittle (and from your description it doesn't sound like it) I struggle to see why reasonable adjustments couldn't be put in place for you. The NMC explicitly states that health problems in themselves aren't fitness to practise concerns providing you disclose them and they're being managed. It sounds as if your uni is applying an extremely narrow definition of 'managed' by requiring you to be seizure free for six months. In your shoes I'd challenge that. Students do have a right to appeal fitness to practise decisions.

The first thing I'd do is talk to your own neurologist about the adjustments you need. I guarantee you they'll have lots of patients with highly responsible jobs, and they'll be able to advise you, the university, and your placement provider on what's reasonable. It's quite likely that your occupational health assessors have never encountered a student with epilepsy before. They need to be listening to someone with specific expertise.

I'd also get on social media and ask around for midwives or nurses with epilepsy who would be happy to have a chat with you about how they manage in their career from day to day. This is what I did when I applied for medicine. You'll generally find that people who have been living with a disability for a long time are eager to pass on strategies to help out people who are newly diagnosed. Use this info to show your uni what can be done. Personally I've always found I meet much less doubt and resistance when I politely but assertively tell employers or occupational health assessors, "I can do X, but I need Y for it - what's the best way to implement this?"

I'm sorry you're going through this and I hope it works out for you.