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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think it's not worth it to become a nurse

147 replies

Emily786 · 29/08/2019 19:41

3 years of graft in university to only get paid £14 an hour m I had my heart sat on it till my father was like the NHS is going downhill and there will be no jobs by the time you go out into the world 😭 . So I don't know whether I should re-evaluate my choices

OP posts:
Tiredmum100 · 29/08/2019 20:04

I've been a qualified nurse for 14 years. Yes the pay may not be great when you first start but you can work your way up the banding system. For what it's worth I believe nursing is a vocation and if you're heart isn't in it don't do it. I love my job. Yes it's hard and stressful at times but I can't see myself doing anything else. I have learnt so much from patients over the years , different outlooks on life, stories from the war, life lessons from older patients. I'm so grateful I chose to be a nurse.

Youngandfree · 29/08/2019 20:05

OP no one said you have to stay in the uk! Go and travel...go to Australia you will earn WAAAY more, have your accommodation paid and the hospitals are a much nicer environment to work in there!! Also places like Dubai, Saudi etc etc have tax free earnings. Go, travel, see more and earn more

gamerwidow · 29/08/2019 20:07

timshelthechoice
IMO nursing shouldn't be a degree profession and we should never have stopped the bursary.
We are absolutely desperate for student nurses but can't make it an attractive career with the current costs attached before they even start.
I hope the new nursing apprenticeships will help to attract those who can't pay for a degree but do have the skills and potential to do well if given the opportunity to learn on the job.

Pippa12 · 29/08/2019 20:10

FWIW I’ve nursed for 13 years, I can count on 1 hand the amount of times I've been nipped/kicked etc and every time it’s been by a confused and vulnerable patient. I love my job, it’s tough but I don’t ‘want to get out’ and neither do the majority of my nursing friends!!!

Stompythedinosaur · 29/08/2019 20:11

I am a nurse. I love my job, but I would never recommend it to others. It is a vocation, but the low pay really grinds people down. Conditions are stressful too.

Namenic · 29/08/2019 20:14

I would recommend being hca first before the huge commitment. It’s not the pay - it’s the stress of being on an understaffed ward where you are scared of making a mistake and being hung out to dry (has happened before). Some people cope with the stress, others get burnt out.

Original poster
Emily786 · 29/08/2019 20:15

I never said I was in it for the money . I was just saying would it be beneficial to me to study for 3 years and then not find a job due to cuts in the NHS . I'm not hungry for money but I do want enough money to live a comfortable life . I have grown up in hospital literally lived in the ward for a whole year due to my medical conditions as a child and now going back there every couple of weeks and months and taking my siblings there . I am most definitely not in it for the money and I love the smile the nurses put on children's faces ( I want to be a children's nurse ) however I do also feel they're very undervalued and stepped on and expected to do alot for a little

OP posts:
PinkCrayon · 29/08/2019 20:16

I looked into this and actually the fact you now have to pay thousands of pounds for the course, work 37.5 hours a week for free whilst you train with no bursery I dont actually understand how people can afford to do it.
At the end of the day life is expensive you have to be able to afford to live.
Yanbu op.

Original poster
Emily786 · 29/08/2019 20:16

However I do like the idea of going to travel while being a nurse 😝

OP posts:
Original poster
Emily786 · 29/08/2019 20:17

@pinkCrayon Yeah I've heard you have to do full shifts while still studying without being paid m I thought of it as experience which helps u with what your studying but it does seem very tiring

OP posts:
Newgirls · 29/08/2019 20:21

Young women SHOULD care about the money. The more women who speak up about this the better. I’m glad to hear from the nurses with experience are being paid a great wage - rightly so. Can I ask how long it takes to say earn 35k? My daughter is interested and the money and debt is a factor sorry.

RedPanda2 · 29/08/2019 20:22

Could you be a nursing associate instead? We are starting to take them on in the trust I work at, they are paid for by the apprenticeship levy and you'll get a wage whilst studying. Google it and see what you think

ElspethFlashman · 29/08/2019 20:23

But you will always find a job. As someone said, you will always get a rather nice job in Oz or the Middle East. Tons of nurses do that.

And I don't think for a moment it's going to be difficult to get work in the NHS anyway. All the Irish nurses are getting very worried and want to go home and the NHS will be pretty fucked without them.

There are some lovely jobs in nursing, I'm in a specialised area and it's fantastic and I absolutely love it.

But you do have to go through training and you usually have to pay your dues on the wards and that's not easy. But heres the thing - you're never alone. You always have someone to ask or to whinge to. You're all in the same boat. That's very helpful.

Chocolatemouse84 · 29/08/2019 20:32

I've been a nurse for 15 years. Yes it's hard work but I can't imagine doing anything else. I firmly believe, there will always be jobs for nurses, even if the nhs goes to pot, there is other nursing avenues to persue. I have found nursing as a whole flexible too, after I had my children, I left my old job as I couldn't reduce my hours and easily found a job with family friendly hours. In terms of pay, I now earn £18.50 an hour if I include enhancements, which I think is a good wage and there is so many further education options you can go down once qualified if you do wat to study further. So I do think nursing is worth it. It's a hard course time wise but it comes good in the end.

Solasshole · 29/08/2019 20:35

There will always be nursing jobs around. It is also an incredibly versatile career with many different options, working patterns etc you can get into. But tbh, please dont go into it if you dont actually want to do it. I work as a (different) health professional and its shit having to deal with nurses who very clearly dont want to do their job. Its shit for their patients and its shit for those of us having to work with them. Fyi, the vast majority of nurses I've worked with are amazing, including some who sometimes are just having a bad day, and that's ok, but I've also worked with a couple of shockingly behaved nurses who should not be practising.

Youngandfree · 29/08/2019 20:36

@Emily786 do it! I have several cousins and friends who worked abroad for up to 9 years and came home then once they had a family, they all had enough money to buy houses outright, and enough experience to work part time at higher bands/pay!! That’s the good thing about nursing and teaching, you can do do them almost anywhere 🙌

cptartapp · 29/08/2019 20:38

I've been nursing 30 years and wouldn't choose it as a career given my time again. It's not the donkey work, or the death, the politics or even the pay. It's the fact that the inflexibility of the NHS as an employer and the unsocial working patterns required, make juggling the demands of work and family life, particularly with young DC, very difficult. Out of hours childcare wasn't even on my radar at 18.

eyestightshut · 29/08/2019 20:41

I have been nursing for 26 years and have worked my way up the ladder to the dizzy heights of a specialist nurse. I love love love my job. It is the most rewarding job a mentally, physically, intellectually and emotionally challenging. I could not ever countenance doing something else for a living.
If either of my kids told me they wanted to be a nurse then I'm afraid I would try my best to talk them out of it as things stand. Introduction of course fees and removal of the bursary means it's just not doable. Nursing courses involve 37.5 hrs a week at uni and the same in the wards with much shorter holidays than other uni students , so there isn't the time to do extra work to help towards all the costs associated with uni.
All the uni's go on about how you can quickly progress up the ladder , but there are only a finite number of ward managers, specialist nurses and matrons so the majority of nurses are band 5 so a maximum salary of 30k and a shed load of debt to pay off.
Just not worth it IMO

cookiemon666 · 29/08/2019 20:45

My amazing daughter starts her nurse training to be a childrens nurse, next month. She isnt doing it for the money. And I have been a nurse for the last 24 years, still wouldnt do a different job, even on the horrendous days!!

Littlechocola · 29/08/2019 20:52

You will get a job! Simple as that.

perfectpanda · 29/08/2019 20:59

I had complete burn out from nursing in the nhs for 14 years. But i would still do it again if I made my choices over again. I loved the job before it got so stressful. I travelled the world. The degree was so interesting, loved the science and psychology etc. And now I have a nursing related job which i love and isn't stressful. If either of my kids fancy it, i will totally encourage them. But just share advice about self care when on the front line...!

Gruntvsgunt · 29/08/2019 21:03

I’m a psychiatric nurse earning nearly 50k and I love my job it’s awesome and I’m so glad I trained .

Thehop · 29/08/2019 21:06

I’m desperate to do a nursing associate course but can’t afford to. If your heart isn’t in it, then I’d look at something else

Kaykay06 · 29/08/2019 21:15

Paeds nurse 15 years qualified here. If the course was no bursary/debt when I trained not sure I’d have done the course tbh. We worked hard on the wards at uni, basically free labour then hard work at uni. It seems unfair to for newly qualified nurses start with debt not sure i would feel it’s worth it tbh.

You def do not do this job for the money. I had a pretty horrendous shift the other day and my colleagues had a horrific night shift and we just don’t get paid enough for what we do, or for what we put up with.
So if you’re thinking £14 an hour is rubbish now you’ll be regretting it much more once qualified so maybe a different path is best?..

Sweetpea55 · 29/08/2019 21:20

I remember being interviewed by 3 matrons sitting opposite me over a huge polished table. They asked me what I would be doing with my wages when I got paid. I had completely forgotten about the money side of the training, I just wanted to nurse.. Of course this was almost 40 years ago. But even then nurses left the profession because they got pregnant.or retired Nobody left because the wages were crap.