To think the NHS should put an age limit on who they train?

[Babaj]

FIL decided when he was 45 that he was finished with his job (it wasn't a great job, the hours were quite long but the pay was average). So he decided that he wanted to become a nurse and retrained. He recently graduated (aged 51 and now has no job to go into!)
I feel he chose nursing as the NHS pays course fees and he was given grants and therefore basically didn't work for a few years (had to do some volunteering/low paid work in the hospital as he had zilch experience - hence why it took so long!).

AIBU to think that there comes a time when you've got to accept that you missed the point in your life where education was availabe and if you want to change your life for the better - working hard is the way to do it, not starting something new all together? Especially at the expense of the NHS or government supporting you, since it is much more economically viable for that training to go to a young student who will in return give a much longer service to the NHS?

Yab a tit.

What nethuns said

Yabu. The NHS might get ten years out of him, and there is a shortage of nurses isn't there? There's no guarantee some young flibberty jibbert wouldn't do the course then decide they hated it and wanted to be a zoo keeper or something instead. I know a lady who retrained as an air hostess at 53. Good for her I thought, and good for your FIL.

with current government plans he'll probably work for 20 years!

YABU. There is no guarantee that anyone funded through their training by public money is going to hang around and devote their lives to public service. Plenty of young trainee teachers and nurses decide that they don't want to pursue those careers (the dropout rate for teachers within five years of starting their career is very high). Someone who is older is more likely to be sufficiently self-aware and experienced to know what their strengths and weaknesses are, and to know what they want out of a career. Also, there is legislation which prevents educators and employers discriminating against people on the basis of age.

Older students bring so much into the NHS. They have more life skills, more compassion and more empathy then a lot of the students who have just left school. YABU!

YABU well done to your fil he has the skills and qualiitys required to train and if someone gains a benefit of his care then its a job well done.

I completely disagree. Just because he doesn't have a job at the moment doesn't mean he won't ever find one.

The nursing degree is very challenging and has a high dropout rate. The fact that he completed the course demonstrates that it wasn't just the course fees that attracted him. If he spends 15 years as a fantastic nurse we will all have benefited.

Good question. I can see both sides to it though.

An older person can often be perfect in a caring role, also more likely to stay in that role rather than using it as a stepping stone to the next level.

I think that there should be some limits on how many times you can career change and receive free training/grants etc, but as we are now being expected to work much longer before we can retire, at 50, there is a chance he could do 20 years of work for them.

I am very surprised that there are no jobs for him to go to, as the NHS are often saying how short staffed they are, and are increasingly using nursing agencies to meet their requirements.

YABU

You think he chose nursing because he got his fees paid
so he studied etc and made the effort, since graduating all because it was paid for?

Good on him I say. Are you suggesting he's sponging off the state

YABU and a bit of an idiot.

Shall we stop training women at 19 because we might only get a few years out of them before they get pregnant and then take 10 years off to raise their kids and when they come back need more training?

What about people with a family history of serious illness incase they contract something that makes them unfit for work?

Dont be so bloody soft woman.

well, there should be some age limit - such that the person is likely to have a useful few years work in them. I'd say your FIL was within that range - if he gets a job now he may do more years than a younger person who leaves to have and raise a family.

It used to be quite common for people to get early retirement at 50 from industry and train as teachers, I assume 1 or 2 years so same sort of age.

Why should there be age limits on career changes?

Have I wandered into the twilight zone?

Course there should be an age-limit! Stupid man thinking he should find a fulfilling career and make a contribution to society! tsk!

YABU. I think it's an excellent idea to retrain older people esp in light of the ever increasing retirement age. Surely better than years and years of 'retirement'?

It only works if you have a long tie in for anyone getting a grant, which is pointless as who would want to be looked after by someone just serving time til they could escape? YABU.

YABU. I know people who have retrained in their 40's and will be working for at least 15 years and probably longer. Most people won't retire until their late 60's, which is still a lot of working years.

51 is still relatively young considering he could work for another 20 years. I think it takes huge bravery and motivation to go for something completely different when you're older and to see it through to the end the way your FIL did. Plenty of people get funding for training and don't use it, that has nothing to do with age. A friend of mine is getting a ridiculous amount of funding (think above national average salary) to do a professional doctorate. She will finish soon and she told me recently that once she's done she intends to have children and stay at home. It just happened that due to illness her priorities have changed over the last few years.

I think you're being very hard on your FIL for no good reason.

YABVU. I hope you don't have a desire to do something new in your 40s OP. If you do, you will find yourself stuck in a rut for another 25 years. Personally I think it's fantastic that people can retrain halfway through their careers - in the past there was no hope of this. How wonderful that we can appreciate the value and potential of everyone of working age - not just those in their teens and twenties who often don't deserve the investment

He started doing a degree, couldn't hack it and did a diploma instead I forgot to add. He also now has a low paid job as a hospital porter as he can't find a nursing position.

oh and interesting choice of first ever post OP

WTF? So if I decide to retrain in 5 years then I shouldn't be able to? Despite the fact that I'll more than likely to be working in my new career for the next 20-25 years.

YABVVU. My DH trained as a MH nurse and qualified in his early 40's. Many people on his course were older than him. Life experience is a great help in training and many of the older ones were a little bit more realistic about what the job entailed. Some of the younger ones thought it was all about patting people on the head and saving lives rather than it being a lot of cleaning up people's bodily functions. A few droppped out when they found out they would need to take off their fake nails to go on placement (and that was just the guys....lol)

It is never too late to change your career.

The reason your FIL hasn't got a job is due to NHS cutbacks rather than anything else.Took DH 7 months to get a full time job rather than banking, and it's still not with the NHS!

YABU, he has 16 years service to offer before his retirement age, and quite possibly another decade if compulsory retirement is ended, and life experiences and understanding that all those lovely young students don't have, no matter how hard they work.
There may be no immediate hospital jobs available at this moment, but he can diversify within the care industry.

total nonsense- people can change careers at any time! I am sure there are many people who train as nurses straight from school, then change within a few years. No guarantee any job is a job for life!