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Career change or suck it up?! Advice welcome.

3 replies

dreamsofretraining · 11/08/2026 20:38

I have a good job as a senior manager in healthcare (I’m a nurse by trade), and get paid well as an 8D. My issue is, I find my job either incredibly frustrating due to red tape / financial restrictions stopping any innovation or ability to meaningfully make changes, OR I find it so incredibly anxiety inducing because even minor mistakes get treated like disasters that I go home feeling useless and can’t eat or sleep because I feel like I’m going to lose my job. I know it isn’t reasonable to get so anxious over minor things like not copying the right person into an email, but that’s where I’m at, whilst my direct team are lovely the culture in the wider organisation isn’t great. What I am here to ask is - is it possible to start a whole new career at 43 when you’ve spent your life in the NHS and never known anything different? Would I need to retrain completely or are there jobs that would be interested in the skills of an nhs nurse director? Despite my anxiety I am good at my job, I just don’t get any fulfilment out of it and would like to not feel so on edge and stressed all the time. I recognise I would also need to take a pay cut if I changed jobs, currently on approx £100k and the main earner in the family, but we could definitely live on less if it saves my sanity. I am torn between loving my colleagues and loyalty to the organisation, and also wanting more freedom and to not wake up feeling anxious about what the day will bring every morning. Or do I need to find better ways to cope with my current job and just hang in there until retirement? Any help / tips / advice welcome.

OP posts:
strawberriesmelonsgrapes · 12/08/2026 05:44

Why don’t you try going into health tech digital transformation as a clinical lead of some sort

dreamsofretraining · 12/08/2026 06:26

strawberriesmelonsgrapes · 12/08/2026 05:44

Why don’t you try going into health tech digital transformation as a clinical lead of some sort

That’s not a bad idea, something I will look into. I think really I’d like to either take a step down if I stay in the NHS, I’ve been in my post for two years and don’t feel I’ve reached a point yet where I can relax and enjoy it and not sure I ever will. Or I want to cast my net elsewhere and see what life outside the nhs is like! If I could afford it I’d retrain in a totally different field but don’t think that’s a possibility.

OP posts:
strawberriesmelonsgrapes · 12/08/2026 08:01

You could use your existing skills and just reposition yourself outside of NHS management roles. Pharma medical scientific liaison roles or health tech clinical safety officer roles/ clinical associate working out digital pathway. Don’t have to retrain. A careers coach for few hours would be worth it.

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