To stop working in the NHS

[Sounbelievablydull]

I keep reflecting on Theresa mays comment to a nurse that the there is no magic money tree.
I am a nurse my pay has been static for ages.
I am lucky that my husband keeps our financial boat afloat but if he didn't we'd be sunk.
Many of my friends have jumped ship gone to work in industry or in private hospitals.Many of the nurses I work with are doing bank work to keep their families going and as a consequence are exhausted and burnt out.
I feel very proud of the work I do and I do receive a lot of gratitude from patients, but I am feeling like I am a voluntary worker at times when I see what my pay is.
I am thinking of doing something a lot easier for similar money-have been offered a job- but do feel guilty at letting people down

Do what is best for you, but don't forget to take into account the value of the pension. (Most people have no comprehension how valuable pensions are.)

The correct answer to the question of why salaries haven't gone up should be because the employers can get the quality and quantity of staff they want at current rates of pay. If enough people leave that will cease to be true, and wages will go up. So by leaving (if that is best for you) you are making a helpful contribution to the correct calculation of wages.

I think sometimes people are forgetting that nurses have moved on from just doing personal care, feeding, washing etc etc..
It is now a very highly skilled job, nurses who work in ITU for example, cancer specialists, dialysis, theatres, paediatrics, etc etc.. On top of the pressures of the job, understaffing, yearly CPD and registration fees the pay does not keep up with inflation!

Maternity and sick leave yes it's ok.. Pension not so much anymore.. Can you imagine a nurse working in a ward at 65?

With regards to pp who said weekend and night enhancements bump up pay-- why should a nurse have to rely on working nights and giving up weekends just to have enough money?

The basic pay should be sufficient enough for nurses to live.

The nhs is public money i get that and public money means wages are not comparable to the private sector but is it too much to ask that the wage is in line with inflation?

If minimum wage goes up I think nursea base pay goes up aswell!

I'm sorry but a starting band 5 is on 22k+ that is about £10-11/hr.. Sometimes you think why bother?

Firesuit - that's not the case in the NHS. Wages have hardly increased in 10-15 years despite more shortages - look at GP's.

Each successive government always "makes a point" on NHS wage increases: if inflation is high or low we get low wage rises to "set an example".

And I think people are referring to the old NHS pension scheme, which was good (final salary, 6% contribution) but has been replaced by the new scheme. And it's not so good; career average earnings with 12% contributions. My pension projection is shocking, after nearly 25 years in the job.

i was a staff nurse for yrs i left for various reasons but the pay isnt that bad i was top band five and worked a lot of unsocial hours and my average monthly pay was between£1800-£2000

I have nurses in my family. One has been qualified a year, works shifts in a hospital and earns, on average £30k (£1800 a month after tax). Not too shabby for someone who is 22 years old.

She's been qualified a year and she's on £30k? it took me several years service and a couple of promotion to get up to that level so not sure how she's managed that! Lots of extra hours on the Bank maybe, which can seem great in the short term but often leads to exhaustion, burnout and mistakes in the end. Your relatives experience is far from typical so just because she's somehow managing to take home the salary of a Band 7 when she's an NQ (if indeed that is the case) don't assume there aren't Nurses out there struggling to make ends meet.

It doesn't follow that if there are staff shortages then salaries will go up. There is a crisis of vacancies in nursing at the moment.

My DH left nursing and now has a job with no sick pay and less holidays. He's much happier. The perks just weren't enough to keep him when he was off sick with depression.

erm york i earned £1800-2000 as a top band five admittedly lots of unsocial hrs but i wasent band 7

I'm band 7 & that's what I earn. But that's after nearly 25 years service, with no options for overtime, unsocial hours, shift payments etc. And no promotional prospects.

Not all NHS staff work shifts, weekends etc.

After return to nursing uni course I was back to bottom band 5 I was off nursing for 8 years and abroad, which counted for nothing. So I left.
I'm earning more working in a lovely EMI home. No nights at all (as they make my migraines horrific) I'm winding down my nursing career.
No way I could last with the level of work and changing shifts much longer anyway and I'm 55 and won't receive my OAP till 67. I think the government plans on us all keeling over dead before that with the level of work nurses do.

I work in an NHS laboratory and in 2003 they forced a pay cut on us (change in antisocial working pay). I am still earning less now than I was 14 years ago!

I'm seriously considering a career change as they are now proposing that we get paid no extra at all for working nights (we currently get .3 extra for a night and .6 for anything that runs on a sunday) - I do 4, 13 hour shifts on the run, 52 hours of nights in a week! If I work thurs-sun I have to be in work on the previous mon and tues (I get weds off wooo) making a 69 hour working week :( It's shit and they are expecting us to do it for core hours :(

I left midwifery for an office based job and haven't looked back. Yes I get my rose tinted glasses moments remembering the lovely women and families I met and the deliveries etc. After all it is an amazing job.

However after years of shift change promises and requests for part time work being declined. I left. In order to earn £30k you will be working Lates nights and weekends. You won't earn that working the standard shifts. This then meant that I never saw my family. The children were at grandparents and childminders and my shifts clashed with my husbands hours.

It's not all about money but I now earn more working 9.30-2.30 Monday to Friday. And have a really flexible job whereby if it's sports day or an assembly or I have an appointment, I can work out of the office. So even when the dc had days off school ill I could still work and not take sick days.

Oh - I was planning on retiring at 57 after paying in my pension for 40 years. Turns out that wont be happening as they have changed the pension scheme and now I get to retire at 67 :(

People should be paid more for unsocial hours as working nights has a cost to their health. I don't know why that is being put forward as a perk of the job.
Also, in my experience, many people in the NHS don't go off sick because of their commitment to the job, so the argument about generous sick leave is irrelevant.

Don't full time band 5 nurses earn about 30k after enhancements for unsociable hours?

Oh gosh this made me laugh really hard, sorry.

The typical pay for a newly qualified nurse working on a ward and rotating into nights and weekends is around £24500 a year according to my friends. I will clear £28k without overtime but I get a secure environment allowance, I work 13.5 hour shifts every other Saturday and Sunday, and my employer offers an accelerated increment after 6 months, meaning I have already gone up 1 point on the scale.

Most new band 6's get around £30k a year working full time on a ward.

they have only changed the pension scheme for new starters Stepping i was still working with people who had mental health officer status whose pensions doubled up after twenty years they will still be able to retire at 55 and take a full forty yr pension after working 30 years.

And don't forget about "attendance management" WRT illness. Every absence (even leaving 30mins early to pick up your ill child) has to be recorded & results in a 1:1 with your manager. 3 absences results in being placed on a formal review.

So I've worked when I should have been off sick & sent my DC to school when they should have been off to avoid this, as do most.

I agree, thw government is hoping that people drop dead before any pensions are paid out.

I understand the feeling of pride, respect, accomplishment that comes with the job however, mortgage and utility companies do not accept any of these as suitable payment.

but Fruit thats for newly qualified nurses All band fives have and incremental payrise every yr untill they reach the top of their band at the top of band five i was earning over £30000 before tax.

Yanbu
I quit medicine altogether because the NHS made me hate it, don't allow yourself to get to that stage.

x2boys that's not correct; all NHS staff were moved to the new worse NHS pension scheme - it's not optional! Those employed before hand could keep some of their rights in the old scheme, but it has closed. Transfer to the new scheme was compulsory.

i worked in the nhs long enough to remember the labour party annnouncing most nurse were getting a 9% payrise what they failed to mention was that they were giving the payrise to' E' grade nurses[before agenda for change]and to only top 'E' grades.

they have only changed the pension scheme for new starters Stepping

No you are wrong. It was a compulsory move over. My old pension is closed and pretty much worthless. On the new scheme I can retire at 67 - 10 years later than I planned.

i apologise then More i dont work now but i was under the impression those on the old schemes were still on them so what happened to those with Mental health officer status?

X2boys a top band 5 going over 30k must be because of weekend and night work if not supplementes with extra shifts or london high cost area.. To get to top band 5 takes years and does not happen overnight.

The pension transfer is not optional and if a nurse of 30 years never go beyond a band 5 then they are screwed with this new scheme.

The point i'm trying to make is the gov't can't recruit because of the pay and pressures isn't worth it when you can get the same money elsewhere and have better working hours and home life balance.

I think a lot of nurses can relate to feeling like they want to cry every morning before going to work because they are so fed up.. And to have that feeling for all of your working life is just not worth it.. Jump ship and do something else because the nhs isn't competetive anymore.

what happened to those with Mental health officer status?

Who know's - mental health has been sold to virgin now so those staff won't have an NHS pension any more and their old one will be frozen. (Not all sold off yet but has for many trust already, along with sexual health)