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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be pissed off at being 'just' a nurse?

613 replies

bottleofwater · 18/12/2017 22:45

Three times in the last week Ive had different family members making sarky comments regarding some recent achievements & promotion at work.

Usually comments along the lines of "Oh Florence Nightingale you will be telling the Doctors what to do now" " You will be a surgeon in no time" & " What do nurses know about blood pressures, they are not doctors".

Im so fed up of how its like being a nurse is rubbish & that only Doctors are of any value Angry

Also comments regarding how I dont make the same amount of money as other family members but thats probably another thread!

Not sure what they think nurses actually do but aibu to be pissed off at the constant sneering at me?

OP posts:
ringle · 19/12/2017 21:25

Of course I don't! I don't know anything about it!

FormerlyFrikadela01 · 19/12/2017 21:27

I've been qualified 4 years and am looking at around 27k this year with unsocial hours enhancements. The higher up the band's you get the smaller the % of enhancements you get so my top of band 2 dp sometimes comes out with more money than me a month if he's done a lot of nights.

SheffUK · 19/12/2017 21:28

Ringle, from £19.5k (nursing associates) upwards, with the majority of nurses on band 5 which is between £22k and £29k, before unsociable hours, London weighting etc.

ringle · 19/12/2017 21:29

Ah, so a junior nurse gets a proportionately higher boost for night work?

I would have expected the opposite. Shows what I know.

Is the £27k inclusive of enhancements but exclusive of sick pay, holiday and pension?

BiglyBadgers · 19/12/2017 21:30

All because I disagree with the notion nurses do the same work, take on the same responsibilities and are entitled to the same pay and status as doctors?

Which is fine, because everyone has spent the thread telling you it is a completely different role. They do, however, deserve the same respect as doctors or anyone else working in a difficult job focused on making your life better. I really am starting to think you are simply making up an argument for your own reasons. Either that or you are confusing us with another thread you have going on about nursing.

Polarbearflavour · 19/12/2017 21:30

AmeliaFlashtart - why are you so obsessed with nurses? What job do you do?

And yes, you do sound a bit manic and strange.

FruitCider · 19/12/2017 21:30

but nurses cannot supervise medical students, the same way doctors cannot supervise nursing students, since they are two separate disciplines.

I regularly teach doctors about detox, I’m invited into their work place to do so. I regularly teach student doctors how to complete head to toe examinations. When I was a student nurse a registrar taught me about medication.

Whenyouseeit · 19/12/2017 21:31

Years ago, I carried out research around staffing of hospitals at night & the roles of junior (then SHO) doctors & nurses in NICU. We were able to demonstrate quite clearly that the experienced nurses saved lives in comparison to the junior doctors. Not because they are 'better' or the doctors were 'incompetent' but because they had a decade or more experience compared to maybe a month in paediatrics for some SHOs so they knew what they were seeing, they were confident - and crucially if an experienced nurse rang the consultant at 2am they'd come out rather than bollock the SHO & go back to sleep.

AmeliaFlashtart · 19/12/2017 21:32

Part of the dissatisfaction in remuneration on here is likely due to the previously mentioned role creep; in a drive to reduce costs, nurses are being trained to perform more procedures and take on more responsibilities, so that a junior doctor's time is freed up, which allows them to take on more responsibilities etc. usually associated with consultants
The same thing is happening in general practice, physiotherapy, mental health...

This situation is far from unique to nurses, its the same in all professions, it's a fact of life for pretty much everyone in the workforce.

To the person who tried to twist things and claims I hold academic qualifications in higher regard than hands-on experience etc or words to that effect

No, I personally don't but the job market does, qualifications/experience/supply/demand are all going to determine the salary range in any profession.

FruitCider · 19/12/2017 21:32

My basic is £23.5k. I take home £27k because I work weekends and nights. This month my net pay was £1650. I pay quite a bit in student loan repayments and pension (which I’m extremely grateful for).

Headofthehive55 · 19/12/2017 21:32

amelia but my point is some nurses and Drs do exactly the same role.
You are entitled to apply for the role with either a medical degree in nursing degree. You then go into the same higher training.
How do you feel about that?

ringle · 19/12/2017 21:32

Sounds like getting above band 5 is a rarity.

If you do an "average" number of nights at band 5 but outside London would it be £30k+ plus benefits?

FruitCider · 19/12/2017 21:33

Oh sorry ringle, I get an extra amount of money because I work in a secure environment littered with rats and cockroaches. That’s why my pay is seemingly good.

FormerlyFrikadela01 · 19/12/2017 21:33

Ringle
The band 2 is a hca not a junior nurse.

27k is my total gross including enhancements, pension, holiday etc. Pension is good but not even remotely as good as it used to be.

My total take home this year is approz 19kish

FruitCider · 19/12/2017 21:34

What benefits? You get your pay and 14% employer contribution to your pension, and maybe childcare vouchers if you are lucky. That’s it. If you worked exclusive nights you could just scrape £30k.

BiglyBadgers · 19/12/2017 21:35

No, I personally don't but the job market does, qualifications/experience/supply/demand are all going to determine the salary range in any profession.

Nursing pay is not decided by pure market factors. It is centrally mandated by Government. Considering the current crises in recruitment in nursing if it was decided by the factors you mention above they would undoubtedly be paid more.

AmeliaFlashtart · 19/12/2017 21:36

Theres no changing your mindset Amelia, You are quite simply off your head attacking people and demeaning people "wiping bums" so full of hate!
So yes you do appear mentally unstable as why would anyone do what you are choosing to do right now which is troll a thread.
Anyway i'm not feeding the troll anymore

Where's your opinion though? you've joined in the thread hurling insults but no opinion? that says more about you than me

ringle · 19/12/2017 21:37

Sorry to be so nosy, it's just v interesting and mumsnet is the only place you can ask these questions.

BiglyBadgers · 19/12/2017 21:37

To be fair the NHS pension is still much better than many offered by other workplaces. Same with local gov, but as the Government is reducing this all the time it is not something I would rely on to still be there for much longer.

AmeliaFlashtart · 19/12/2017 21:38

And yes, you do sound a bit manic and strange

For holding an opposing view?

FruitCider · 19/12/2017 21:39

Ringle I honestly don’t mind, my pay is published publicly via agenda for change anyway Smile

SheffUK · 19/12/2017 21:40

"This situation is far from unique to nurses, its the same in all professions, it's a fact of life for pretty much everyone in the workforce."

Fair enough, but it follows that nurses are increasingly called upon to do tasks traditionally associated with doctors, which is where the lines begin to blur.

Which is the point many on here have been making, nursing is very different to the perceptions of a massive chunk of the general public.

Monoblock67 · 19/12/2017 21:41

I think it’s important to mention as well that as you go up the bands you drop pay initially. So a top band 5 is £28,400 base rate, which you’d get after working for 8 years. If you went for a band 6, you’d start on £26, and work your way up for another 8 years, and so on.
The band 5 base rate is topped up with unsociable hours pay, so nurses can take home about 2 grand a month. If you move to a band 6 post, technically a ‘higher’ Grade, they often don’t include unsociable hours (as you don’t do them), so your pay rate drops dramatically. Which is why you find so many experienced nurses still ‘just’ a band 5, because they can’t afford to go for promotions. It’s so backwards!

FormerlyFrikadela01 · 19/12/2017 21:42

To be fair the NHS pension is still much better than many offered by other workplaces. Same with local gov, but as the Government is reducing this all the time it is not something I would rely on to still be there for much longer.

Indeed it is. It does grate a bit though that one of my colleagues just retired at 55 with a very very good pension because he had mental health officer status. But things change.

FruitCider · 19/12/2017 21:43

Oh and this is what I get the “secure environment allowance” extra money for... now tell me it’s only worth an extra £100 a month?

(I don’t work in the site of the documentary)

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