To ask band 5 nurses (at lower end of pay scale) how much you earn?

[Llbarls81]

I've just done a calculation as I'm due to qualify in September and I'm shocked at how little the pay is!! I've just worked out that a band 5 entry level nurse takes home around £1400 a month?? Surely this isn't right?

I agree that 12 hour (ha I think you mean 14 hours !) shifts are not good.
However few nurses have a choice- management don't want nurses having any crossover on shifts ,it costs more

Can I also please say that I am not the poster who said nurses are like postmen.

THAT WAS NOT ME!

I don't see why I have given anyone the "best laughs".

Nothing I have said is not true, so I'm not "spreading misinformation".

I would just like to clarify something... im not dsmising the hard work people are doing in any way shape or form. All I'm saying is that whilst yes there are lots of places where it's high stress life and deat stuff but this isn't the entire of the nhs and not every single shift despite what people on this ward seem to be making out. I'm a mental health nurse so the pressures are different but while I studied I worked for nhsp all over the local general hospital on various shifts and saw what the nurses did... It wasn't 24/7 life and death mad rush decisions... yes some shifts are like that and those situations are more likely in certain units but most places fall somewhere in the middle where shifts are pretty steady, stressful, but steady. Even the 5 weeks where I worked a&e there was highs and lows but every single shift wasn't life and death.

Again not dismissing what people have said but if every single shift was as bad as lots of pp have made out I highly doubt anyone would last longer than a few months without being burnt out.

It doesn't matter how often it's life or death does it? The fact actions or omissions can cause harm or even death shows the huge responsibility nurses have and saying it's comparable to what a teacher or even a bloody post man does is just plain insulting is it not?

I work on a delivery suite in a unit that has almost 10000 deliveries per year, say around 750- 800 per month on average. Babies come all hours of day and night, broken down that's around 25 babies per day or 12ish per shift, we often only have 8/9 midwives on (full complement should be around 14) and we deal with every single thing that comes through the doors, from the time consuming but low risk labourer in the pool to the woman who is bleeding with an abrupted placenta and dying baby. We deal with a lot. We don't get 4 hour breaks, yeah occasionally you don't have a labourer, you help your colleague, you make sure they get their break, you help site the epidural, scrub in theatre, stock up, clean rooms. Its not always life and death but there is always something to do.

Of course it's not comparable to teachers or postman. I just think that as a profession we don't do ourselves any favours when we make out its life and death every day. It's like this posts you see on Facebook about how we hold patients hands and cry with them and get utis from not being able to pee etc etc. I see fellow nurses share those posts and my non nursing friends just scoff at them.... yes that is sometimes the case but we aren't bloody martyrS. Again ill reiterate we work hard... We aren't paid enough or appreciated enough but in my experience Joe public get sick of the selfless martyr image some (not all) nurses like to portray.

I'm a band 5 bank nurse. Been qualified for almost 7 years, held a permanent post for 4 years before going on the bank due to childcare....my oh works away from home most of the time and my dd was having to be shipped between family members regularly, so gave up my contact to give her stability. Anyway, I've been off work for 2 months due to health reasons and had booked my first bank shift back at work for today but had to cancel (with 2 days notice). I'll be completely honest here.....I cancelled the shift after reading this thread. Reading through the posts absolutely terrified me and literally caused anxiety at having to step into a ward again, knowing all the pressures I'd be under. Having to look after patients I've never met before and have a tiny insight into their past medical history and current issue from a brief verbal handover. Working on a ward I've never before set foot on, therefore waste precious time looking for things. Working with a team I've never met before, not every team is welcoming or grateful of your help. These issues before you add in factors discussed above from staff shortages, abusive patients, ever increasing paperwork to medical emergencies. I'm not trying to sound the martyr etc but this thread genuinely terrified me so much that I couldn't go in....it's amazing how you forget about how it really is.
Yes, I feel that nurses deserve to be paid more...but more than anything I wish nurses got the respect they deserve.
And btw 're: the the Facebook posts....I've seen other professions just as guilty of using social media to get their point across on a regular basis.

Im not a martyr Im a highly qualified professional .

Thank goodness frik that you don't work in Adult Nursing- I was a bit worried there ,because you clearly do not understand the level of competence and care required.
The potential for a patient to deteriorate post op/with an infection/because they are on opiates etc is always there.
That's the point - otherwise they wouldn't be in hospital.
So no Nurses don't run around resuscitating pts all shift but are constantly monitoring their condition and escalating if they see signs of deterioration/ensuring the patient is painfree ,comfortable,has passed urine etc.
That is why nursing is stressful if you are short staffed : the potential for disaster if you miss something vital.
Nursing should be proactive not reactive.
We actually have fewer cardiac arrests these days - proactive care means the signs of deterioration are spotted much earlier and escalated before we get to that point.

Not that it matters but I switched disciplines during my training and had a placementer in hdu... I fully understand the level of competence and care required... I just think there's been a general theme in this thread that a bit martyr esque and I don't think it does nurses any favours.

People are explaining their experiences where they do/have worked. No need to be insulting.

But anyone posting an experience that doesn't tally with your "every second is high stress, life and death" agenda is shouted down.

Different nurses have different experiences as they work in a different setting, or have different management, to you. It doesn't mean they're wrong lying.

To be honest, reading some of these posts is just making me wonder why you dont go and retrain to be a doctor since they get paid so much better and their job has less pressure and need for skill, apparently.

People will always feel hard done by, and think their profession has it worst.

Doctors and GPs complain weekly about targets etc and not wanting to work unsociable hours, despite the high pay, pensions, etc.

Teachers complain about exam stresses, poor pupil behaviour, long hours, class sizes, government interference, low pay. Despite their long holidays and very decent pay.

Nurses complain about low pay and long hours and stress.

MPs complain of low pay poor sods

Lawyers complain about long hours and low pay, unless you end up in corporate law. They say that trainees are not paid at all, or are paid peanuts, and that it's not the profession it used to be.

Police, social workers, fire brigade, call centre workers, etc, all have problems with stress and low pay.

Such is life.

How many times on here do you see the sentence "my DH works long hours in a very stressful professional job"? Probably hourly.

I don't think anyone has said doctors don't have it tough.

They don't become doctors because they aren't clever enough or chose not to work hard enough as teenagers to get high A level exam grades. It's all pretty simple and doctors are paid more on the whole (although some very senior nurse managers I think get up to £70k) because it is much harder to become a doctor and most people can't hack it. We make our choices and live with it just like my slightly foolish postman son with his degree and rather low paid choice is living with it - and very happily so far. I thought a whole winter of it might put him off but two winters in he's perfectly happy as he's always been since a tiny toddler and lucky him to be so.... but the money will be nothing like his sisters or me in business law in London of course.. not that money is everything at all.

For those nurses who are fed up life is short - Pick a career you adore. Every day 30 years into my job (I work for myself as a lawyer) is huge fun. I love it. Find a job you like as much as that which for many is indeed nursing or midwifery or whatever but don't wast too long hating a life. Effect change rather than complaining. A lot of people in life moan but don't make a change. Act rather than talk I suspect works better in life.

I won't even dignify that hysterical last post with a response Aye. You carry on with your nurse bashing as you desire

Oh DFOD lotus.

Yep. Everyone become doctors. That'll solve the problems.

Sharon, what exactly is "hysterical" about anything I have said? I would say it's you who is getting all hysterical.

It's impossible to have a reasoned discussion on here sometimes.

So every nurse secretly wants to be a Dr only they're too thick lotus? Wow. Do people really think that?

Yes happy. Or they are thick so become postmen. Poor Lotus' son

I am a nurse- never had any desire whatsoever to be a Dr.

We, thick- didn't work hard as teenagers -second rate- useless- lazy- bints should be grateful of any employment. Or leave and be postmen or run a coach company, right? Ok then....

I reported my own last post because it was a wine fuelled rant , although nothing I said was untrue .

I cannot imagine anywhere in the NHS where you could sleep for 4 hours on a night shift without being disciplined . Private nursing homes , just about possibly , but NHS nope .

Not every shift leaves me a gibbering wreck , I agree that actually only happens about 40% of the time . The level of responsibility always remains the same though and I think unless you work in a profession where a mistake can literally cost a life , it is difficult to imagine .

I have never harboured any hankerings to be a doctor , I respect the vast majority who I work with , but it is not the job for me . I love being a nurse.

Aye I completely agree about the pumps going off , I have very sensitive hearing and they drive me nut's even in the middle of the day when the ward is swamped with staff and noise !

Ha! Lotus that's an interesting theory - my DB is a Dr academically he's a high achiever but I've always done slightly better I have never been interested in his job.

I wouldn't mind his salary.

I knew before I trained I wanted to work in mental health hence training as an RMN. I also knew I had absolutely no interest in pretty much 90% of medicine - I do not want to cut people up, I don't want to examine fanjos or feet, if you have gastrointestinal issues I will be very sympathetic but for anything more complex than a spot of heartburn then I will find you someone more qualified to help. Why on earth would I spend 7 years of my life doing things I don't particularly want to do so that I can finally get to specialise in the area that I am interested in?

Then having got there I could see my clients for 20 minutes once every 6 months and decide what tablets they should have - often based on the advice of nurses who actually see them regularly and monitor how medication is working.