To think sometimes being self sufficient gets you nowhere

[Russiawithlove]

I'm probably just having a moan but...
I am recovering from a leg fracture. At the moment I'm still in a cast which is due to be removed at 13weeks due to delayed healing.
I've worked as a nurse in the NHS for 18 years and two years ago became a self employed private nurse. It was the right decision for me at the time
becoming newly single and it helped me financially.

I pay my taxes and all my own bills.
This injury means I've already been off work 10 weeks and total time off is looking to be 5 to 6 months.
I'm not entitled to any sick pay and thankfully the roughly 9k I had in savings is paying my mortgage etc .
My savings are running out quickly.

It is what it is. But today I feel so down. I got my blood clot injections from hospital pharmacy and out of the 9 people there I was the only one who paid
for the prescription.
I just feel like why did I bother to work hard and save. I'm now skint and can't even get help with my medication costs.

Sorry for the rant just feeling very negative at the moment.

My DH doesn't pay prescription charges, but due to having a permanent ileostomy. If you asked him, he'd definitely rather pay the £9 or so than have that. I have frequent medication and buy a prepayment certificate There are many reasons why someone wouldn't pay (or appear to pay) charges, and income is only one.

I'm sorry for your injury and that you are going through a tough time, but I'm afraid you are being unreasonable and a bit judgemental.

I know how you feel. I've been in the same boat myself. Self employment isn't all it's cracked up to be. Everyone goes on about the benefits, but don't see the negatives, like, as you've found, no statutory sick pay. It's also incredibly expensive to make private provision for sick pay - people spout on about "you should have got critical illness insurance" but they don't know how expensive it is and even then, there's usually long waiting periods and you have hurdles to jump before they pay out. About time that self employed got the same state benefits as employed rather than being second class citizens.

I'm not judging people who don't pay for prescriptions.

Do you not have insurance to cover out of work periods due to accident/illness?

Pre payment card? Have you checked on entitled to to see if you can get some benefits

No I only have critical illness cover.
I was told that after 16 weeks I could claim 42.50 a week. But I would need to be assessed.
Not sure how I could fake a leg fracture.

Ok, but your comment about being the only one out of nine who paid did rather look that way. I apologize for misconstruing what you were saying.

I empathise with your situation - DH went down to SSP after one major op meant he was off long-term, and that was about £20 a week at the time. Although there were 2 of us, we had no savings and a 1-year-old so my part-time wage didn't stretch far. I know it's no help now, but may be worth looking into income protection once you're back on your feet (pun not intended) to prevent it from happening again. In the meantime, you could enquire about a payment break from your mortgage perhaps? Might help the savings go a little further if you could freeze payment on that for a few months.

Thinking of you

If you've paid full NI contributions you can apply for new style ESA or if your savings are under 16k you may be entitled to some universal credit

The ones not paying probably have a pre payment card. Think it's £90 for the year and covers all prescriptions.

Many nurses have opted to leave the NHS because they were fed up with working conditions and they could get more money and more control going via agency. Agency cost is one of the main financial pressures most trusts are facing.

I'm genuinely sorry you are finding yourself in this position but ultimately you made the decision to leave the security the NHS was offering you. It's easy to focus on the bad and take for granted the benefits. The NHS is not all that bad when things go wrong.