To give up a well paid career for a NMW job?

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

Ive just kind of applied for a job in a shop. Not sure of the wage but it's not going to pay well. But it's a shop related to a hobby of mine and I'm genuinely interested in it and think Id find it interesting.

I'm currently a midwife. I feel burnt out. I'm sick of the long shifts and the night shifts, I'm sick of the e rosta giving me 50 odd hours one week and 20 the next.. I'm sick of the paperwork and the pressure and the overwork/not enough staff/too many women.

More than anything im sick of the fear culture and investigations. I'm a good, experienced midwife but I see colleagues been hauled over the coals for really minor stuff which a few years ago no one would have batted an eyelid at. Medication given 30 mins late, etc. one of the matrons asked me to come and see her the other day and I felt physically sick as I went to her office.....turns out it was nothing at all, I wasn't in trouble. But I can't spend my life feeling like this.

Dh earns enough that we can cover bills no problem. But it's the nice things in life that would be a struggle....holidays, clothes, hair cuts, new gadgets. Id also have to go full time and at the minute im part time....so Id work more hours for less pay. It's nice having an extra day off for meeting up with friends, going to the gym, etc.

Alternative is to just to stick it out as long as possible until I do have a near breakdown, and at that point think "fuck it" and walk away.

I think the culture is ingrained ssd. I've never worked for the NHS but I see my mum most days after work & helped out a bit during all the bullying that was going on & the grievances that were raised.

A manager was caught out lying about my mum in writing & lying about a colleague of my mum's (which led to a disciplinary for the colleague). In both cases her lying was exposed. Did she get reprimanded? No she was promoted. That's how toxic & protective of its own the NHS management system is.

And it's story after story after story like that from the workplace.

Patients come way down the list - that's due to obsession on targets & numbers & losing sight of the fact that the numbers are people.

It all started going wrong when management consultants got involved imo. For example they (think it was McKinsey) reviewed district nursing & found 'good' district nurses saw 15 patients a day while 'bad' ones saw 8, but they didn't account for the treatments the nurses were doing. A diabetic injection is somewhat faster than dealing with a syringe driver for example. But somewhere in the NHS there's this idea that everything can be done faster & with fewer people. Then mistakes start being made & those are stamped on from above - rather than having the reason for mistakes looked at. If you raise concerns that working practices are getting danferous due to understaffing you get bullied.

Yep. Scary. And I'm a senior band 6, experienced midwife. I'm seeing more junior staff than me leaving. To be honest sometimes I think the thought of work is worse than work actually is if you know what I mean. I worry about work when I'm not at work because I'm worried about something going wrong. When I'm at work it's busy and stressful as it's so busy but I don't feel quite as worried. Then when I get home I'm thinking.....did I do this and did I do that. And I worry that I'm going to be called into the office the next day.

Occy health do do counselling referrals, think I will enquire about it. I feel tearful at the moment writing stuff down and that's not good.

I have been a detention officer for nearly fours years, the abuse, being responsible for life and constant stress nearly send me over the edge at the begining of this year and I nearly had a break down.

I made the desision to take a ?450 a month pay cut and go part time, I now work weekends 24 hours, but 7am till 7pm.

I weighed up money with life/home balance and my home life won out, it has to be the best desision I made.

As long as you can keep your hand in, then go for it

I had counselling in a previous position in the nhs it was so helpful and most importantly completely confidential! Good luck x x

I had counselling via occy health it was six sessions it helped a little ,from my experience management in the NHS are terrible ,usupportive ,not interested in why things go wrong just looking for a scapegoat i,dont know maybe they are being bullied from even higher management it makes me laugh that they have ever more tiers of management but ever decreasing numbers of staff in clinical areas!

I Wouldnt U2 if i had my time again i,m a RMN but left afew months ago to care for my son its just not worth the stress but i,m sure your collegues have told you that!

123mother. Nmw means national minimum wage.

I went from earning six figures to earning £7300, working about 14h per week. I prefer the latter. The job is boring and low-status but my colleagues are lovely and there is zero stress.

It's all part of a great plan to undermine/ overwhelm staff to such an extent they can take no more and leave. Then there will have to be another plan, only this one will be the great panacea, privatisation!
We're it not for the dogged determination and sheer hard work of NHS staff over many years, the system would have crumbl long ago.
Nurses are especially conscientious and go the extra mile to ensure the job is done, always late off shift, no meal breaks, no drinks and often agreeing to cover in the event of shortages of staff.
Damn those nurses they just won't give up! Makes it harder for those with malice aforethought.
I really do take my hat off to the great army of caring people manning the barricades of the NHS.
Please do not give up yet.

that just sounds sooo bad!

Thank you Simon !!

Oh and recently our shifts have been changed from being paid for 7.5 hrs to only been paid for 7 hours. We still have to be there for 7.5 hrs but are told that 30 mins is unpaid so we can have a break. Ha ha ha!

The system would have crumbled long ago.

Yes I would feel bad to be one of the increasing many walking away. But it gets to the point where I have to put myself first. I'm certainly going to investigate counselling and maybe ask about a sabbatical. Might look into hypno birth training while on a sabbatical as that does interest me.

Yes, Simon! They have the upper hand now and no mistake.
Where are the unions that are supposed to be advocates for their members?

they did that with us op only they made is our shift half an hour long to accomadate the break we could never take.

U2 I'm another RMN that wouldn't recommend it to anyone! It's sad but the job is so high pressured and the blame culture is horrendous.

I wish I could get out, I hope to soonish.

There are aspects of my job I love and always have but the pressure is relentless and you are always so close to a serious incident. I hate that part of it.

Our union is kicking off about it. No idea how far they'll get but the ft unison rep was round the other day saying we've all got to stand together on the issue.

Last time I backed the union on something I was called into the office and bollocked. . I wrote on a private fb Union page that I wouldn't be doing extras anymore, someone printed it off and gave it to a very senior manager. This was when the RCM had called everyone to work to rule and was talking about actual strikes (which came later).

Hmmmmm...!

Does anyone have any thoughts about being an AP? The AP on my ward seems to do a lot except give meds and they are on band 4 I think. It will be two years training while working. I heard hospitals are employing Ap's more than nurses these days?

What's an AP?

apprentice?

We have APs at work but they're advanced practisers on a band 8 so don't think they're the same thing. APs in our hospital do the work of a junior Dr. Don't have them in maternity though.

No job is objectively better than another so it's not for us to tell you what you should do, it's really up to you. You have a choice between a job that you feel burned out in and plenty money for treats versus a job that you think you'd really enjoy with less money. Does the extra stuff, holidays and the like, that you have outweigh how you feel at your current job?

Well that's the big dilemma to which I don't know the answer.

My heart is saying yes it will be better to have to be less stressed and have less money. My head is saying woaaah, maybe the grass isn't always greener and that I will miss the nice things more than I realise.

Anyway, I have a feeling I'm not going to get offered a job in this shop now. I only heard about the shop opening last week and haven't seen any jobs advertised but Ive done some sleuth work and emailed the manager saying I'm interested in working there. Been to the shop today and spoke to the builders as they're literally still building it. Builder reckoned the shop fitters are coming next week and will work 16 hour days and have it ready in no time. He reckons it will open eary or mid Oct,,,,,so they must be sorted for staff already Id have thought.