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

[Emily786]

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

Sorry, but the number of nurse specialist/band 7-8 is tiny in comparison to the band 5s and 6s.
Top band 5 after 10 years is about 15.50 an hour, before tax. That’s about £1800 in hand after paying into the pension (about £230, it’s 9.3% over £26-27000).
They are responsible for someone’s life for £15 an hour. That’s bloody peanuts, given the mental and physical load.
The shift pattern also means you’re pretty much guaranteed to be on you knees with tiredness. All the damn time.
Physically, it’s a killer. Mentally, it’s a killer. Yup, you need to be made of a pretty stern stuff.

£40 a month paying back student loan might be negligeable to some. To most, it pays a week’s food shop. Or the carpark to go to work. Or your child’s lunches. It’s not a small amount. Not when you’ve earned it keeping someone alive.

I really wish we stopped this shit about ‘it’s not the money’. Of course it’s also the money. I know nurses who use the food bank ffs.

UK has a huge problem recruiting and retaining nurses. Go on any ward, at least 50% of nurses are foreign. They are leaving. The European ones we have are waiting for the 10 years worked in the UK which enables them to draw the pension and transfere it to their home countries. And then they’ll be out of here like a shot.
Because, at the end of the day, it is about the money.
You’ll never get rich as a nurse, but at least you should be able to live on a professional wage.

I was a nurse for 25 years, never again.
Try podiatry, it's 9-5 with weekends off in the NHS, money goes up the scale quickly or you can go private or run your own business.
Not nearly as exhausting either, a lot of podiatrists work well into their 70's.

The health care industry is a growth industry. You'll never be stuck for work!

At least you are guaranteed to find work as a nurse. Most of the people I know with degrees are doing work they could have done had they left school at 16!

Don't do it. There is no autonomy and little to no recognition for the long sloggy days or nights. You'll run to stay in place, and if you can't manage that you'll be carpeted for being not good enough.

Medicine is great as there's a lot to learn, but bedside nursing will suck the life out of you.

It's the same in the police and fire service in the first few years, but as other posters have mentioned it's a job you do for the love of it rather than the money,
I've been both a police officer and a nurse and haven't done either for the money, but have loved both roles for different reasons

I'm a Band 8a. I don't work full time any more but if I did, my salary would be 50k this year which is pretty good money. However, my role is very full on, completely autonomous and my clinical responsibility is huge. But, I like everyone else, started as a D grade staff nurse on the wards and moved my way up and out from there. I was last on the wards 14 years ago, and, even if I were completely skint, would never go back.

I hate it when people spew out the myth that nursing is a vocation and it's not about pay!
I think people say its a vocation like teaching or the police and fire service because it's not a job you can 'phone in'. If you don't really care about it you will not be good at it and in 'vocational' jobs it matters more when you fail.
It's not to say these jobs don't deserve to be paid well, they do, but you need something extra to do them well.

Absolutely I think some people mean it like that gamer and I would have no problem with that use of ‘vocational’.

There are still plenty of people that use it to mean a vocation that you should be grateful to do and expect no pay or respect for doing so.

Totally agree with a PP who said that out of hours childcare was not on their radar at 18.

Going back to the OP, if you really do want to do it and you want to travel, check how this works with the children’s nursing qualification.

You are not unreasonable. It’s a hard work, high stress and relative to them low pay occupation. A lot of people don’t realise that there is no bursary these days and full fees. While you balance placements of 37.5 hour per week, assignments, personal commitments and part time work. Then you qualify and quite quickly will have a lot of responsibility

Oh and l was impressed with how quickly the “vocation” comment was mentioned by someone!!

although ward band 5 nurses are horrifically overworked and underpaid, looking from the outside (I'm in a hospital based, slightly clinical slightly adminy role) I think there is not such a bad career structure if you get your head down and have a career plan. In my trust the nurses have better and more diverse CPD opportunities than lots of other allied professions, and this means that Grade 8a+ management roles, commissioners etc which could in theory be drawn from other professions are pretty much exclusively held by nurses.

Nursing also has better NHS exit strategies - working for insurance companies, occy health, public health, drug companies, botox/aesthetics clinics.

The pay and hours aren't great for the work involved, but there's always a shortage so there'll always be jobs, nhs pension is fsirly good, annual lesve entitlement is pretty good (especially after 10 years service). I wouldn't get into it for the money though

'Only' £14 per hour?! OP have you worked before?

I really wish we stopped this shit about ‘it’s not the money’. Of course it’s also the money. I know nurses who use the food bank ffs.

This! Especially when it comes to jobs predominantly done by women. You see thread after thread on here, women doing low-paid shift work and then say 'I can't afford to work' once they have kids and they get told, 'Should have thought about that when you chose your career' or 'Should have studied something else at school'. Or 'retrain'. Bully for you! Ditto if you can't afford to buy a home, or rent in an area with good schools. 'Shouldn't have had kids then'.

It's absolutely about money! More women need to really consider this when choosing their career options.

You don't see boys being told, 'Well, it's not about money, it's about vocation'.

NO 'vocation' should be left in relative penury, because they are all vital jobs.

Just because people are saying it's a vocation doesn't mean they're saying it does my deserve to get paid well, they're saying at the moment it doesn't. I've nurses in my family and a few friends who are nurses, including two that left well paid job to become nurses. Most at times have felt (and looked) in bits but ALL say they wouldn't work anywhere else. I've never seen any of them unemployed and the hours are crazy, so varied, but they say suit them cos of sometimes bringing the kids to school or collecting. And it is a vocation, you can always tell the people who care from the ones who are there for a job. A good nurse is one of the most important person in society, when you think of it, you give birth, feel dizzy, wet yourself, poo or puke in front of a nurse and they make you feel like it's not an issue

Ps everyone saying about women, most of the nurses I know are men and they've the same pay issues as women, this isn't men vs women issue

Same as most NHS. 999 call handlers are on band 3 which is so underpaid
Paramedics aren't massively well paid either

Ontheroses -

“Nurses earn more than average, get a great pension and a great deal of flexibility around part time work. I am 59, a mother, daughter and wife. I have yet to see a nurse rushed off their feet but I have witnessed a lot of people kept waiting while they have time to chatter. Also been on the receiving end of very conflicting advice, especially from midwives and re one of my children's asthma. Don't get me started on the incompetence of CAMHS”

What utter rubbish.

As for the but oh it’s a vocation, it shouldn’t be about the money and it’s good money anyway, again what utter rubbish.

OP, have you not thought about joining the army to become a nurse? You would get paid to train during your university course, and then a decent lump sum on completion.

Shiveringtimber you can be passionate about caring for others and expect good working conditions and pay. It’s time the attitude that nurses should put up with their lot or otherwise they can’t be good nurses is stopped. its just emotional blackmail.

Don’t forget, you could do a degree in something else completely and still end up on similar pay. £14 an hour is well above avarage amongst uni leavers here. Job satisfaction and whether you’ll like going to work are also important.

Also if you are a nurse you’ll need to pay professional fees (NMC and maybe a trade union) and you have to do a certain amount of continuing professional development. These may be things you want to research or take into account if you haven’t already.

Nursing never has and never will be about the money. It’s above average wage with good protection sick pay maternity pay etc. Better al than many jobs. It’s tough but I wouldn’t change a thing.

And for those arguing about men b woman. Most nurses still are woman. It’s not a 50/50 split or anywhere near that. Historically paid less as woman’s work. Paid less than teachers or police which is historically men’s work. Not saying it’s right but as part of nursing you study this. The gap will never be put right I don’t think but it’s not something I dwell on.

I am 59, a mother, daughter and wife. I have yet to see a nurse rushed off their feet but I have witnessed a lot of people kept waiting while they have time to chatter. Also been on the receiving end of very conflicting advice, especially from midwives and re one of my children's asthma. Don't get me started on the incompetence of CAMHS

How is any of this relevant to the OP?

There is a reason why the UK is short of 40,000 nurses. At least if you are a nurse, you will always be able to find work here or abroad. My local Trust has 100 nursing vacancies. They’ve filled 30 of them.

I still wouldn’t recommend it. I think that occupational therapy, physiotherapy etc would be a better career.

Ignore your dad and the negative posters on here. It is definitely worth it.

£14 per hour as starting salary isn't to be sniffed at. It's what you do next and how you plan to progress your career that matters.

You will always find work as a nurse.Yes there might be cuts in the team/ward that you're working on, but as long as you're willing to be flexible you will always find work.

Have you considered the army:

apply.army.mod.uk/roles/army-medical-service/army-nurse

Or the navy

www.royalnavy.mod.uk/careers/roles-and-specialisations/services/surface-fleet/naval-nurse-student

Whatever path you take to become a nurse it's hard, it's so so hard and you won't have the same freedom as other students. I start my final year next month and I'm shitting myself about juggling the academic workload, being on placement & working part-time.

But, by september 2020 I'll be qualified and I cannot wait to start the next phase of my working career.

Good luck