To feel sad about the figures on nursing released today

[noodleaddict]

It seems like the crisis in nursing is only going to get worse.

More UK nurses and midwives leaving than joining profession
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-40476867

Sad probably doesn't really describe it actually. Patient care is going to suffer. There is no doubt about it. I see a downward spiral happening and I don't know what to do about it.

We need reintroduction of bursaries for training, we need a pay rise, we need better staffing, we need to reduce the reliance on agency.

When is the government going to wake up??

I have my nursing BSc but I never worked as an RN! I couldn't face it. I hated training.

I work in an office now. More pay, far less stress, no unsocial hours, flexi time and home working, no abuse from the public.

I think nursing is a horrible job - sorry!

I keep reading about band 4s taking over from band 5s. It's happening in physiotherapy and occupational therapy too.

The plan seems to be to have one qualified band 5 in charge of a shift and co-ordinating with band 2-4s doing most of the work.

I've just finished my first year in nursing. I did 18 months before in 2008 (long story why I left) but came back. So here I am again and things are loads worse. Biggest change ive noticed is there seems to be a lot of pressure to know what you want to do from the start. I did a 10 week placement in a gp surgery with the practice nurses and got invited to conferences and all sorts. A huge percentage of practice nurses are due to retire so they are really pushing for student nurses to see it as a potential career whereas in 2008 you had to have a few years ward experience to do practice nursing. Unfortunately the unflexuble hours at my local hospital and the lack of acute hospitals for our population make the wards hell on earth to work and I'm pretty sure I will be requesting practice nursing as my sign off placement. Sad when i used to love being a hca/student nurse on the wards.

It's a sorry state of affairs when there are constant reports of NHS staff across the board leaving their professions and yet the issue isn't being addressed.

The government/DOH don't seem to be recognising that staff are under pressure and that an ageing workforce + scrapping the bursary is going to push us even further towards the edge.

For me it's not the pay. For me it's the long hours and short staffing. It's not being able to find time to care for my own basic needs while at work - not eating, drinking or weeing.
Working a 12 hour shift and only being able to provide the bare bones of basic care is soul destroying. I'd get home and realise that I said hello to a patient at 7am and didn't get chance to speak to them again! I'd be horrified at that. How is that good care? How did that patient feel?

It breaks my heart when I hear people say that they realise how busy the staff were so didn't want to bother them. No patient should ever feel like that.

I used to feel physically sick and cry on the way to work in worry about what a shift would be like and it was even worse going in knowing that the staffing levels were too low. Some days I'd even pray for a car accident or breakdown so I didn't have to go in, then feel utter guilt because I knew it'd put more pressure on my colleagues if I weren't there.

Being told that I'm 'not allowed' to keep a bottle of squash in the office because 'it's a clinical environment', yet I don't have time to walk off the ward to the staff room for a sip of water is a joke.

Also being told that it was my own fault that I'd not had breaks, yet had no one sent to relieve me for my (unpaid) break on a shift, so I couldn't leave the patient (due to the nature of my job) was frustrating and horrible. Caught between a rock and a hard place because if anything had gone wrong it would be attributed to me not taking my break or because of me leaving the patient unattended. How is that safe or fair to the staff or the patient?

My colleagues were what kept me going, and still do even though I'm not working on wards anymore. The pressure is different where I am now but there is still pressure.

It boils down to not enough staff. If there were enough staff, people wouldn't feel the pay rise cap is as much of an insult. Being expected to do the work of 3 people with no recognition and then a cap on even a minimal pay rise is a slap in the chops and goes to show how little the government thinks of public sector workers - because it's not just nurses, midwives and NHS staff - it's all public sector workers and even the public that the government is failing.

My mum can take blood and she is a receptionist in a doctor's surgery! I can't believe there are nurses who aren't trained to do this??

I know as a band 3 I can do venapunture and work alongside band 5 6&7s that can't

The plan seems to be to have one qualified band 5 in charge of a shift and co-ordinating with band 2-4s doing most of the work.*

Yes this is the impression I get as well.

I've tried for years to get my venapuncture training. I am a band 5, it wasn't part of our training years ago. Any time I have tried to attend i wasn't allowed to go as we were too short staffed.
So yes mock those of who who have tried to get enhanced skills but not been able to. Again this keeps us unable to progress further and staff are kept in the box managers want you in.

Not mocking, just amazed that it's not part of the core training.

What's so surprising that not all RNs do venepuncture?

In many environments it's not an essential skill. Not everyone needs to do it as long as you have a decent number of staff who can.

Why would you fund all RNs to go and do venepuncture training and then need to support them in practice to be signed off as competent when they might only need to do it once in a blue moon? Obviously depends on your clinical environment, but often not everyone needs to do everything.

I agree that it was very shortsighted to get rid of the bursary and it needs reintroducing immediately. Many older people with life experience make excellent nurses but they aren't applying now. Nurses also need better pay and conditions. It's a bloody hard job, stressful, upsetting and working shifts take years off your life.

I work in paeds and most nurses don't do venepuncture or cannulation.

I am a specialist Nurse and I do not take blood. My time is better spent doing specialist things, not something that anyone can be trained to do. I have 30 years experience, 15 in my specialism. Thankfully I love my job, but also hate that nurses with 2 years experience are being given a Band 6 with no relevant experience. There is nowhere for me to go now and I feel undervalued.

The new consultation wants newly qualifieds to come out being able to prescribe, cannulate and take bloods as well as do ECGs and listen to chests. Will they be able to do basic nursing care or is that for the NAs?

cushioncovers the eye roll was unnecessary then. That unsupportive element of healthcare professional is what disappoints me most.

I have just retired after 38 years. I left for a few reasons but the main one was Revalidation. I have been trained so long ago that academia really stressed me out and I found the whole process arduous and complicated . I loved my job and would still be in it if not for Revalidation.
I did however have a really good pension a pre 1995 one, regular nurses will know what I mean . This has been totally changed, the pension now is far inferior to the one I had, which enabled me to finish work on half pay and a great lump sum. I am using the lump sum to supplement my wages until my oap kicks in and it will be more than enough for my needs.
I have finished 14 weeks this Sat and I do not miss it one bit. I ummed and ahhed for months with this damn Revalidation hanging over me and felt quite bitter toward the NMC . Hell have they done me a favour and now wish I had finished a year earlier!
So to all those nurses out there who are worrying about retirement themselves just like I did , it is ok honestly . Time for us to look after ourselves now (before we become the patients) and boy do we deserve it.

Here here Sophiealice

Is water still banned at the nurses stations even in the height of summer? We were told it was unprofessional for patients and relatives to see nurses drink. But it's professional to faint on the ward in front of them?

I found that nurses are treated as children or robots rather than qualified healthcare professionals. Expected to be happy not eating or drinking for 12 hours, happy to get UTIs, happy to not go to the loo all shift. And nurses don't have thoughts or feelings or families to go home too obviously!

Nurses have always been looked down on. They were easier to control in the days when they had to leave when they got married and lived in the nurses home under the watchful eye of the home sister!

Drinks used to be banned on my ward which is ridiculous considering in mental health one of the best things to do to start a therapeutic relationship is sit and have a drink with your client.
Anyway we had a new service manager start in the middle of a heat wave and came and did her introductions during handover. Everyone was dying in the airless office and she came back an hour later with a crate of freezing cold pop and loads of ice lollies for the staff and clients to share.... I miss her, she was a really good nurse and a really good service manager.

I am currently an auxiliary with the community nurses and I find I have a lot of responsibility for only being a band 2. I work on my own taking bloods, doing dressings, balloon top ups and support visits as well as all the BP, temp, pulse monitoring, I also get allocated a certain amount of call outs depending on what they are for. I absolutely love my job though it is so varied and I feel very valued and listened to on my opinions regarding the patients.

I am fully trained to do all of the above and keep relevant training up to date. I am putting in my application to do my nursing through the open uni in January and when I finish I am hoping to stay in the community as it's what I've always wanted to do.

Thank you MonsterQueen

Come in the water is lovely!

Also I've not heard anything about the NA role coming to Scotland yet?

Christinedaae17 our HCA's are band 3's - get your job spec checked, community hca's are not a band 2 role! You work unsupervised for one thing, good for you to do your training x

Thank you for that I'll will check tomorrow

Is water still banned at the nurses stations even in the height of summer?

Where I work yes. We're expected to go to the staff room if we want a drink, which obviously we have time to.

Sophiealice 😆 I would love to, but I will be working to retirement age as it is just my wage and 4 hungry mouths to feed. My youngest is only 4. Thankfully I love my job.

We have non qualified Band 5 workers who are utterly useless and do not recognise any hierarchy. Such a joke how much they get paid and how hard some of you guys work at lower grades.