Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 ··· 12 13 14 15 16 17

Original poster

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

410 replies

Llbarls81 · 14/05/2015 14:16

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?

OP posts:

code · 17/05/2015 10:07

So...now we are comparing nurses pay to that of postmen and railway workers...says it all really...

LotusLight · 17/05/2015 10:10

I am not saying it is equally skilled - gosh I'm sure my son can put his talents to better use than sorting post and pushing it through letter boxes and his pay reflects that.

I mentioned railways because they are striking and that is what some industries do for higher pay.

So it sounds like the main thing is to ensure girls at school know that they will earn less as a nurse than if they go into teaching or become doctors or lawyers? Can't they find that out on a websearch though?

frikadela01 · 17/05/2015 10:25

The thing with striking is that I don't always think the public are behind us striking since our salary comes out of tax money and we then get seen as greedy public sector workers. And whe we have gone on strike like I mentioned further up the thread we can't always actually get out of work because someone has to look after the patients Which is probably why the main union the RCN never vote to strike.

mappemonde · 17/05/2015 10:28

Sorry namechange - I was clearer earlier in the thread that I worked in other roles before undertaking my nurse training so 17 years nhs service, not all as a RN.

I am now on band 6 - have been for a while but as bottom band 6 is lower than top 5 I was paid less for more work for quite a while whilst I got the union in involved.

Lotus - I get your point that pay shouldn't come as a surprise, but the fundamental issue of someone needing to nurse I provide that service as that person/role not being valued remains.

Sandthefloor · 17/05/2015 10:35

I have been in nursing for over twenty years and it has changed quite considerably in what the role entails. I love my job (mostly) and can think of few others where you have the chance to make such an immediate positive impact on people's life's. I think that part of the problem is that all nurses within their band are payed equally. It doesn't differentiate between a band 5 that is working in a very acute area where they are using every skill they have and a band 5 that is working in a less acute area like a rehabilitation ward. I have worked with some fantastic nurses who really know their stuff and really do prop up the more junior doctors. However not all nurses are fantastic, some are average and some are in the wrong job! When you visit someone in hospital you tend to remember the extremes...

I also don't think that you can say that nurses should be paid more because if they make a mistake it could kill someone. Lots of jobs carry the same burden - mechanics that make a mistake when fixing your brakes could kill you, a bus driver that is distracted behind the wheel could kill the entire bus load of passengers.

ItsADinosaur · 17/05/2015 10:43

So it sounds like the main thing is to ensure girls at school

Girls? Many men are nurses too you know.

namechangefortoday543 · 17/05/2015 11:14

of course Bus drivers are responsible for their passengers but the degree of skill involved is not the same.
As a ward nurse you are constantly making decisions, multitasking, monitoring pts condition, deciding the priority in which you give care.
Its constant thinking and checking whether their condition is stable, do they need discharge planning, the side effects and drug interactions that can occur. even if a doctor prescribes something the RN is responsible for ensuring it is correct or advocating on the patients behalf if they recognise that what has been prescribed /ordered may compromise the pts condition.

All this while responding to the needs of pts in pain ,vomiting- sometimes up to 15 pts.
Contrary to popular belief there is not a doctor standing around watching what you are doing - why does Holby insist on showing this !?

The wards are run by nurses with medical teams based around that ward but often off seeing outliers and attending ED etc.

On a night shift you will have band 5 nurses in charge of the ward -of 30 ish pts . They are solely responsible for the care given by themselves and the other nurses on the shift.
They will also often have to watch what the junior doctor is up to and advise them if they are new.

I should imagine with a bit of training I could drive a bus(HAVE DRIVEN A HORSEBOX,VAN) ,I doubt a bus driver could be an RN with a few practice sessions !

namechangefortoday543 · 17/05/2015 11:14

ooops sorry for caps !

namechangefortoday543 · 17/05/2015 11:18

I think what I am trying to say is that the general public actually have NO idea of the responsibility on the shoulders of RNs .

sharonthewaspandthewineywall · 17/05/2015 11:22

Name I'm glad someone else gets where I'm coming from. Of course this makes us hysterical martyrs according to some

namechangefortoday543 · 17/05/2015 11:26

I guess they probably work in a clinic

Of course this isn't the experience of all RNs but that's a pretty good idea of what its like on the wards.
Anyone up for it ? ...

PrincessShcherbatskaya · 17/05/2015 11:27

Grays goodwill of nurses is what's needed for the NHS to survive - a positive attitude will only go so far

namechangefortoday543 · 17/05/2015 11:42

I disagree Princess- its time to stop boxing RNs into "angels" "martyr" roles and recognise them for the skilled, responsible, professionals that they are .

They are leaving in droves, going abroad and heading off to do agency.
Not to mention all those who are retiring soon taking their experience with them.

ItsADinosaur · 17/05/2015 11:46

Goodwill doesn't pay my mortgage.

frikadela01 · 17/05/2015 12:03

Let's face it the nhs just doesn't value nurses. hcas are being given more and more of the hands on nursING whilst we get to document it... on my sisters ward there is a band 4 "associate practitioner" who can do almost everything my sister does in terms of hands on except give medication. This woman has never had any university training she is an unregulated hca who worked her way up. I'm. Not knocking her but anything goes wrong and it's the nurse who claims ultimate responsibility and the nurses pin on the line. I can envisage more of this happenING and the role.of nurses eroding to save money.

ItsADinosaur · 17/05/2015 12:20

There is the new care certificate being introduced for HCAs to ensure they're up to standard. But still, it's my pin on the line if I'm in charge.

namechangefortoday543 · 17/05/2015 12:24

Actually frik that is changing and there is about to be regulation of HCA and Associate Practioners so that they responsible for the care they give.
HCA will have to work towards a Care Certificate .
Google The Cavendish Report.

namechangefortoday543 · 17/05/2015 12:25

X-POST!!!

Tiredemma · 17/05/2015 12:40

Dont even get my started on HCA's having no professional regulation.

Thats a whole other thread

frikadela01 · 17/05/2015 12:48

I was aware of this... didn't realise it had come in to be honest... had a few new starters at work and there has been little mention of it and I gather it was April it was supposed be implemented. It will be interesting to see whether hcas will be regulated or whether this will be a paper filling in Exercise. Curious to know proles opinions on hcas taking on more responsibility? I'm split to be honest... on the one hand I think good for them gaining more skills etc bit then I think in some respects it is devaluing the role of the nurse.... safe to say I think the coming years will be interesting for the profession.

Sandthefloor · 17/05/2015 12:53

I wasn't for a second suggesting that a bus driver could be a nurse. The point is they are responsible for peoples life's no matter how much skill is involved, therefore it doesn't add up that nurses should be paid more because a mistake could cost a life. Nurses should be paid more because of many of the skills that pp have listed I just don't think that is one of them.

Going back to the comparison with the salary of the police, they don't receive unsociable hours pay, so it wouldn't be such a gap once this is factored in. Obviously if we lose that it will be different.

namechangefortoday543 · 17/05/2015 12:55

I have heard rumblings at work- I will report back !
I don't think it will be more responsibility just they will be accountable for their actions ifyswim.

Also it will give them a career path if Im right - so a way of progressing .

ItsADinosaur · 17/05/2015 12:55

I work on paeds, and I think our HCAs are used very differently, they have their own patients. They are very useful to have.

GratefulHead · 17/05/2015 12:56

My 20 yr old niece with qualifications she got at college walked straight into a job in London. Two years later she is on £27k, a sum it took me nearly 15 years to reach in the NHS as a nurse. Just another reason I will never go back to it.

I love my niece, I don't begrudge her that wonderful salary, am sure she is very good at her job etc but it shows me just how little nurses are valued in the NHS and UK.

For a small salary a nurse can care for up to 30 sick paties within a small team (and these have rapidly diminished in size since I was a nurse), she will administer medication orally and intravenously, she will support worried relatives, support worried patients, deal with vomit, faeces, urine and other bodily fluids, she will als have a role in supporting their who are dying and in caring for the body after death. All for a paltry £1200 a month at the bottom end of the scale. We don't value our nurses anywhere near enough, and we don't care that due to this our relatives may suffer due to the falling staff numbers. A bit sad.

frikadela01 · 17/05/2015 13:12

Wasn't for a second suggesting hcas aren't useful... how many nurses could do there job without them? Just curious what people think about their ever increasing role (in some areas) in relation to our own. I like the fact there's more chance of career progression. My dp is a hca and loves his job so more chance of progression is good for him... so long as it doesn't put me out of a job

Flip

1 2 ··· 12 13 14 15 16 17