No jobs for student nurses?

[EachandEveryone]

Have you experienced this? I can’t quote facts and figures I’m just hearing it from the horses mouth. I’m on the oncology ward being treated for the past two years. I am a nurse for twenty five years. I cannot believe the junior nurses or students qualifying that they can’t get the jobs they have trained for because the trusts have no vacancies as they’ve over employed from elsewhere spending millions. They got their numbers wrong, one fantastic student told me two thousand nurses qualify a year in London alone and there is nothing only bank. When I qualified we had the pick of jobs everyone wanted us. I feel so sad it’s such a waste.

like I said I know nothing outside of what I’m hearing on the wards I’m getting my excellent care from.

has anyone got any newly qualified nurses in their family? Is it better outside London?

Welsh students have streamed lining - they’re linked to jobs

Indeed, OP. I recall the old band D, E and F's. People who had trained without going to University and Project 2000, SENs and nursing auxiliaries. And there was no Paramedic Science degree either - they trained up from ambulance driver.

The old days weren't all that bad! At least no one finished University to embark on a health career in massive hypothetical debt! Not to mention far less complex health conditions of patients even 20 to 30 years ago.

This is really bad and wasn't aware it was effecting nurses too. Its massive issue with doctors from newly qualified to hospital doctors with several years experience and lots of GPs currently unemployed/struggling to find jobs too.

Its sad what's happening to our nhs :(
Doctors & nurses should always have jobs. Think for drs its budget government cuts (ie patients moan cant see a GP but yet government won't fund more GPs and also lots of international drs constantly recruited). Not international drs fault at all but government needs to stop it whilst too many unemployed British born/trained!

My daughter in law is training as a mental health nurse, she says there are very few jobs.

She's just spent 3 weeks on a placement in a mother and baby unit, there were 8 staff (2 students) and ONE patient for the whole time she was there. She says it was so boring! Totally over staffed and staff couldn't be sent elsewhere either. It's crazy.

The recruitment freeze is to answer for this.

If Nursing they can consider the services but for more niche training such as midwifery the only options from qualifying are to go abroad (Oz/NZ) or continuing training for Health visiting, IVF or abortion care. Though those roles are hard to come by as well.

most adverts require some level of experience ruling out NQM/NQN etc

Sadly no, it is not better outside London. Not just nurses it is the same situation across Health Professional excepting SALT. The Trusts have frozen posts but also the issue is compounded by the Universities increasing student numbers. The NHS used to be very good at only training numbers for expected jobs. I looked at the Stats last week, all the professional bodies seem to have put out a statement. Physio students had this in 2014. I am currently mentoring some AHP’s, it is absolutely heart breaking. Without a job in the profession it can be difficult to match the CPD criteria which means they may in the future find it hard to remain on the register.

How is there no jobs there's a massive shortage of midwives nationwide 😲

2007 there were hardly any job for our cohorts some went into the Navy nursing. Some went abroad. Some went on bank but of all the ones that stuck around everyone else we did all get b5 jobs eventually. Me personally I just worked full time in retail for a while I got A band 5 job, about 4 months later

It’s all branches of nursing too. I’m an RMN but know of RGNs and RNLDs who can’t find jobs. They are told that they need to complete preceptorships but nowhere will take them.
A midwife that I know waited a year before she found employment. She applied for everything going including HCA (told that she was unable to work as a HCA as she was qualified).
A lot of the RMNs go straight to private nursing homes now.

Because there’s a recruitment feeeze as nowhere has any money

It’s VERY unusual to be overstaffed

There are Band 5 nurse jobs advertised in Wales at present. Might not be ideal but would give experience. Nhs Wales uses a different jobs site to England.

Budgetary restrictions mainly, as explained above.

There are also no GP jobs. Friend's son has just finished his training as a GP, is doing a maternity cover role (has moved region and uprooted his wife to do so) and is keeping his fingers crossed that he can get a job in that area when the cover finishes - not at all certain. They are in their 30s and would quite like to get on with life - like buying a property to call home and considering having a child. Ironically he is not very far from where I live, our local surgery has the usual difficulty in providing timely appointments and the next surgery along has no doctors at all at the moment - the most senior staff member (singular) is a nurse practitioner! It's not my surgery so I don't know the details of how on earth this happens or how a situation like that can be sustainable but it's very worrying.

Can I ask why paediatric is so different? I'm in the same boat that my DD wants to do nursing or midwifery and has just started her post GCSE options based around this so she'll be applying for unis this time next year but I'm very concerned on the job situation. She's doing Early Childhood as part of her options though so could lean to paediatric.

What exactly do you think the nursing unions could "do about it"?

That is interesting to hear actually as I know at the Trust I work for we have employed a huge amount of overseas nurses. Pretty awful if our own nurses can't then get jobs.

It happened to my DFriend when she qualified over 30 years ago. She ended up working for another trust and travelling.

Not just nursing but also AHPs. New grads struggling to get jobs because we’re training so many more people. As well as the undergrad programmes back in my day, there’s also now 2 year masters pre-reg programmes for people who’ve done other degrees first of all. I have 2 local universities offering these courses which are money-making for the universities. The NHS just is recruiting at the level of newly qualified AHPs being churned out at present.

Also, I don't know if other Trusts have done the same but ours has just increased the pay for overseas nurses by recognising non NHS service eg instead of starting bottom of scale they have been moved up (backdated some years).

Massive recruitment freeze across all areas of the NHS - with a lot of hospitals actually culling posts. The government have ordered this as part of their NHS reorganisation plans. They've ordered ICBs to significantly reduce their spending - apparently this will make everything more efficient & increase productivity!
Not quite sure how having even less staff to manage an ever increasing demand will work....

Was the same in 2000 when I qualified in Scotland. Many of us worked for an agency and then moved away. Was the same in England in 2005. Not enough jobs for students where I am now. Huge international recruitment over recent years has been stopped where I work but it will take some time for jobs to become available. Many nurse banks and agencies want newly qualified nurses to have minimum 6 months experience. Some students aren’t applying for their pin so they can continue to work as bank health cares u tip they get a job. Trusts aren’t fully staffed, they’re just too poor to recruit.

The chief nurse for England, Duncan, has issued this letter

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/graduate-guarantee-for-newly-qualified-nurses-and-midwives/

Trusts will be forced to take all students on, we have had any band 5 vacancy requiring experience pulled as they will sll be available to students

My son was in hospital for 10 months up until the start of this year and the student nurses in their last year when taking care of him didn't seem to have issues with finding jobs, several ended up staying at the hospital and others got jobs in other hospitals.

Though, I'm talking about paeds nursing rather than adult nursing so I wonder if the issue is more with adult nursing?

My DD is a paediatric OT band 6 and loves it, but they did put a recruitment freeze in her hospital and took away the band 5 rotational role on her ward. from what i can gather.

There are less students in children’s nursing so they don’t need as many available jobs. Also most international recruits were adult nurses.