How much 'caring' do nurses actually do nowadays?

[SLawsonB]

In a hospital ward and A&E etc

Because I have had the displeasure of being admitted twice in 2 months and noticed no caring at all from nurses

They were too busy with notes, ward round help, medication rounds, checking people over to assess them a lot

No bed changing or bed baths. Didn't help anyone with toileting at all, from what I saw

Is this usually the case now and it's all just down to HCAs?

Not a dig at nurses. I saw for myself that they were quite literally running from one task to the next

For someone who's not in the know though, it very much felt like being nursed was from the HCA ladies

I am interested in the job, a lot. But I wonder how accurate HCA work is to really get a feel for it - Because they're too different now and nurses pins are assumably at stake if they mess up etc? So the pressure is different

I feel this way after having scary lack of care. Those people who have family members or friends that can stay with them for a few days if having major surgery frees up care for those just sitting in hospital waiting for a nursing home for 6 weeks.

The lack of basic care was horrific. You only have to read the threads on maternity to see most mums would be better in single rooms where they could have their partners stay. Not in 4 bedded wards with people on speaker phone the whole time and feeling unsafe with random men in the ward.

Do all nurses who have the advanced diploma in nursing who qualified before degrees came in have to do a compulsory degree top up now?

I think it limits your career progression if you don't do it.

It's strongly encouraged. I tried to do it years ago, but the funding was cut.

So it's not compulsory as you previously stated.

Well I don't think they could actually sack you if you refused. But it could stop you applying for other jobs.

We also get no choice over the course. Unfortunately they scrapped the module system a few years ago. Where you could choose things relevant to your area of practice.

You needed O Levels to be an SRN, that was replaced by RGN.

In my family we have a lot of nurses, my aunt did her training in the 1950s, she started as a 'nursing cadet' at 15 and did her O Levels as part of that and eventually became an SRN.

My sister in law (trained in the 1980s) was an RGN, she topped up to a degree a few years ago. At that stage you still didn't need A Levels but you did need to be 18 so lots of prospective nurses did do A Levels or BTECs.

I was working in the NHS when 'project 2000' was set up so SENs could upgrade to RGN, and then they were all recruited to the wards they had previously worked on.

I joined a nursing diploma course in 1997. I was not prepared for how "technical" it was. No, I barely saw my patients! The HCAs did most of the caring, which was feeding, changing, making beds etc. I was not sold the job correctly at sixth form put it that way. I didn't finish my nursing qualification and went into a different field. It wasn't for me. But I have revered nurses since. It's a tough job

So people used to go into the job at 16 and 18 and now have to wait til 21 to be paid after living 3 years away?

I had a friend in the late 80s who joined one of the old nursing schools at 17. I can't remember exactly, but I think the student nurses had food, accommodation and a small allowance. She really enjoyed her training.

I agree. I'm a qualified RGN and I worked on a gynaecology/breast surgical ward for 10 years. I would start the day after handover making beds, helping with patient washes etc but would constantly be pulled away for other duties. For example ward rounds with consultants, administer drugs, deal with emergencies, liaise with bed managers regarding potential patient discharges and bed statuses, phone calls from relatives or other members of the healthcare team, replacing intravenous fluids, attending to deteriorating patients, inserting naso-gastric tubes-the list goes on. It's not that qualified nurses don't want or won't get involved with patient care it's just we have so many other duties to complete, therefore sometimes we have to delegate the basic patient care to the HCAs.

I left nursing 5 years ago after 17 years (mental health nurse) due to the fact that my job consisted of nothing but paperwork and doing medication all the hands on care came from the HCA’s.It was just a tick box exercise for the nurses nothing like when I first started and you could actually spend quality time with your patients.
I still work in the NHS but in a gp surgery.

I started my training in 1984 , it might have varied from hospital to hospital but we got paid a salary and had to pay for student accommodation if we wanted it, albeit relatively cheap . You had to buy your own food etc . Lots of people on my course lived out or moved out during the 3 yrs .

@Floralnomad Ah, thanks, my memory is rusty. I had some idea she talked about dinner being provided communally, but maybe they had to pay for that. At any rate, it seemed to provide a basic level of security to the students so they did not need loans or worry about money too much. I think that was positive, in that they could focus on learning.

That's when student nurses were employees, and Got paid a wage + albeit not a large one )
They were mainly trained on the ward and were in the staff numbers with teaching blocks
I started my nurse training in 1993 and trained under " project 2000" which was the original Diploma nurse training it was brought in because it was felt that nurses needed more time in the class room
So we had 50%teaching and 50% placement we were super numary
Until the last eight months when we did rostered practice
We got paid a Bursary rather than a wage
The training has changed many times since then.

@x2boys exactly , we used to do 8 weeks on a ward ( 4 for maternity /ENT) and then 2 weeks in school and some holiday was scheduled in . If you were on placement you got given shifts by the ward like all the other staff so worked Christmas etc like everyone else . You started doing nights in yr2 . The trust I worked for had a few hospitals so although you were mainly at base you did get moved for different specialities . I worked at 5 different sites in my 3 yrs of training .

Yes. HCAs do 'caring ' now. Washing , dressing etc. Obs are all reported.

I don't work in the UK but I work as HCA in a acute unit in the hospital. My role includes patient care such as washes and toileting. I also take vital signs, take bloods and do ecg's.
The role of the hca has changed a lot over the years. As has the role of doctors and nursing staff.

Project 2000 was the worst of all worlds really wasn’t it? Really fucked nurses over. Terrible number of hours, no university length holidays, prevented those nurses getting SCS for earlier retirement. Couldn’t even be bothered awarding those poor students a degree for their sacrifice.

Yep.and the actual training was very hit and miss often p!acements didn't know what to do with students and didn't really know what our role was .

And the irony is that the new nursing associate role seems not dissimilar to the old Enrolled nurses

My Mum was a nurse SRN, she was very good and worked in some large London teaching hospitals.
She had a few years out to have us lot, went back to the NHS, couldn't cope, it was super stressful and despite doing additional training went into the private sector, where she could work the way she was used too ie time with the patients.

However, i was recently in NHS Hospital and whilst most jobs were done by HCA's the Staff Nurses were excellent, always available to answer questions etc but the most caring HCP's were the OTs and Physio's.

Its criminal we have allowed the bursary to be removed and students now pay 10s of 1000s to look after us all.

I was an RGN. , I agree that the Project 2000 nurses were the most shafted . At least with how we did it you were an actual number on the ward so it was in the permanent staffs interest to see that you did things properly .

I am a diploma trained nurse with 20 years of experience and multiple management/speciality/technical and teaching qualifications and skills.
I am band 6 about to go to band 7. I do not need to have a degree, as my experience and role related qualifications are taken into consideration. It is not compulsory at this level. Some higher band roles require degrees but they tend to be masters not Bachelor. These tend to be very management based so this makes sense.
I don't want to do a degree and would not apply to a post that requires one.