To think that nurses do very well financially actually

[Nurseybigbucks]

Hear me out.
I know that people are always going on about shitty nurses salary and how hard they work etc and believe me, I get that the job is often shit and getting shitter and they have to work hard, but I can't get behind them being low paid.

My DP has recently qualified as a nurse, she was lucky in that NHS paid for her degree, now that's stopped it does make a difference but this low pay nurse thing has been spouted for longer than it's been stopped.

She's just started her first job out of Uni on a salary of £30,000 for the NHS. This is above national average salary but closer to average in our area (London). She gets paid extra for night shifts and weekends or bank holidays so the total she'd earn would be around £35k in year 1.

There are not many jobs paying £35k in year one out of Uni, certainly not from courses that are so easy to access in terms of what you need to be accepted onto the courses.

And that's just for a basic (band 5) nurse. If you have something about you then you'll move up to a higher pay band within a couple of years max really and there are lots of higher paid jobs for the right personnel and LOTs of opportunity to upskill and earn more and LOTs of opportunity to work extra should you choose, with private work being particularly lucrative.

I earn around £50k in finance but expect to be the lower earner within 5 years or so.

Again, I get how hard they might work, but lots of people work hard and hard work vs pay is not a linear graph in any career.

I think that nurses are pretty well and fairly paid and they enjoy a fantastic pension if working in the NHS. So Mumsnet, AIBU?

nurses save lives and are expected to have the same knowledge as a doctor recently with not nearly as much pay.

We absolutely are not expected to have the same knowledge as a doctor. What a ridiculous comment.

To those saying that it's impossible to climb the ladder quickly, I have been qualified nurse for 8 years and I have worked my way up to a band 8 during this time (which I started a year ago so it took 7 years).

Yes this isn't the norm and I have been lucky as I have been in the right place at the right time when other nurses have retired/left but it is not impossible to do.

The really long hours (having to cover because they don't have enough internal bank staff & won't pay for agency cover) & emotional toll/mental stress isn't worth £35k to me.(or to most people).

You say you work in finance, that's no comparison to what a nurse has to do and the responsibility which comes with it.

Don’t forget the responsibility that the newly qualifying nurses will apparently be coming out with under the new NMC standards. Being able to cannulate, carry out venepuncture, mentoring and apparently prescribing ready (so I’ve heard). It’s scary, and not in a good way.

To those saying that it's impossible to climb the ladder quickly, I have been qualified nurse for 8 years and I have worked my way up to a band 8 during this time (which I started a year ago so it took 7 years).

Did you have prior experience in another field before coming into nursing?

Because 7 years to get to band 8 without any prior manager or professional experience is insane.

Jesus got to A and E on a Saturday night or take your child for emergency care what ever nurses get paid its not enough! Totally agree re HCAs being underpaid as well. The stress and the pressure on them at all times is unreal. My Nan is currently being nursed by angels I am very grateful she being allowed some dignity thank you all nurses and care staff.

Yanbu. The vast majority of nurses earn average or above wage. They can move sideways, upwards, change jobs to suit their circumstances at the time. It's actually not a bad deal at all. I think Mumsnet is skewed with lots of people earning high figures. Most people in most parts of the country earn a lot less than nurses, including people who work antisocial hours which nurses don't all necessarily do. I don't think they're overpaid, but I don't think they're underpaid either and I also think the rhetoric about how they're Dickensian poverty stricken heroes beyond all criticism and reproach - which this "chronically underpaid" schtick feeds into - isn't helpful to anyone.

Seriously, what the heck is your beef?

I've been qualified 15 years and have only just got a band 6, I'm community based and there is very little career progression within community nursing ime.

I'm now a specialist nurse and earn £15 an hour which I don't feel is amazing really for the level of responsibility and knowledge required for the post.

The perks of the job, annual leave, sick pay and pension have all been slowly eroded by the current government.

I wouldn't go back to nursing for a million pounds a week. It's a dogs life.

Funny that you don’t get many threads complaining about overpaid male dominated jobs. These women should know their place eh?

Totally agree OP. Whenever you hear about the NHS, it’s always the poor nurses. Not really the case. Other staff never get a mention, but Trusts wouldn’t run without them.

I’m returning to nursing so I will be classed as newly qualified so I will start at £24 thousand a year if I do full time. If I’d stayed in nursing I’d be on about 28 grand a year.
Yes it’s decent pay to a certain extent but when u also take into account the extras and what I mean is
Cost of parking , if u can park
Wasted food as u don’t get a break
Business insurance for car
Study in own time and sometimes own cost
The bullying
The bitchiness the not being with family on important days etc
And yes u may think why am I going back I need stability that why
But then I look at my neighbour with her 31 grand a year nanny job and wonder why I bother

It's decent pay in absolute terms, relative to normal UK wages. The arguments are over how much it should be paid - how much worth the job has - and how much even 'decent' pay in the UK is worth. Personally in terms of house prices I think minimum wage ought to be nearer 30k for all of us! As for the nurse's job, it is obviously essential. HCA's and other care assistants are not so much less deserving though, and many people are totally blind to the economic reality faced by millions.

The starting wage for nurses is okay but it should be given the responsibility they take in. You are very wrong about the opportunities for progression though. I trained in the mid 90s and made my way to the equivalent of band 7 within 7 years - I have then stayed on band 7 ever since (approx 15 years). I do ‘have something about me’ - in that time I have expanded my skills substantially, completed extensive CPD (including a PhD), I have advised in service development at a national level - but there are very limited opportunities past band 7 for someone who wants to maintain a decent level of patient contact - sad but true. I have broken past this barrier by moving out of the NHS.

I know the situation is different in London for all sorts of reasons, but fair enough because the cost of living is higher but the capital still needs a functioning health care system.

I've been thinking about this - I posted way upthread as someone who has just been discharged from hospital after emergency surgery and experienced good care, especially from nursing staff, firsthand and for the first time.

Maybe really it is partly about those elements of value that go beyond pay? If people are saying nursing staff are paid fairly for what they do (I'm still not sure), then perhaps we should make them feel more valued in other ways? Nurses (and teachers I guess) have such an impact on your life at a time when you are especially vulnerable. This is important work - is it valued less as 'women's' work?

YABU. I earn £32k as a nurse on a band 6 with 14 years experience and a very stressful role. Unless I go into management (with no patient/client contact which I have no intention to do as my ambition is to be a nurse not manager) the most I can earn at the moment is £34k when I clock up some more experience. I work long days, can’t switch off at night and weekends, feel like I have actual lives in my hands, feel vulnerable in case I miss something with how stretched we are with lack of funding and lack of provision and actually feel trapped in the job.

Could I just add yes the money goes up with career progression however I am not fussed about that . I was offered to do the 405 course a year after I started I said no and continued to do so , yes progression but no extra pay for the responsibility.
Went to work in community as it family friendly , what a joke that was limited to area I could work as it my home town , difficult when saw clients in town , many were my age so out in pubs etc at weekend !
Got a place at uni to do health visiting and did the staff nurse programs first it was great but no contact with patients not even lifting a baby on to scales
I’m now starting again back at bottom of band 5 instead of towards the top but least it’s decent pay and between me and my husband we will live comfortable instead of what we have now

YANBU - the nurses I know all pull in a really good wage, with overtime or shift allowance or bank work. They also have a good structure for moving up in their careers.
I'm not saying they don;t earn every penny, they do and work bloody hard.
My ex was earning £80k as a senior nurse in a job she liked, 3 long days a week which meant she had time/energy to add in bank shifts when she wanted extra cash for something.

Nurses do a wonderful job and are underpaid.

She’s earning £30k out of university. In 1994 (25 years ago) my starting salary was £27k and I wasn’t saving lives.

YABU.

I agree it's decent money but it's shifts and hard work. I've had some wonderful nurses and some really crap ones. Bit like in any job. I know one student just now doing nurse training and she's the laziest, most unempathetic person I know. The thought of her nursing is scary. By contrast my oldest friend has nursed 30 years and she is absolutely wonderful, I've heard this from her patients too.

Anywa op, YANBU

It's shocking the number of people who think that nurses pulling in a decent wage after you account for overtime, unsocial hours, bank work is ok.

No one should have to work overtime to get a decent wage. Isn't that the point? The wage should be decent before the overtime/bank/unsocial hours. If you're a nurse working 4 nights a week and then have to work another two nights overtime or bank because your wage isn't enough that's not ok!

What is considered ‘full time’ hours in nursing?

fedup was 3/3/4 shift pattern in my job for FT hours, working 7am til 7.15pm . Realistically you were at work from 6.30 am til 7.30pm . One hour unpaid break split in two half hours - if you could take it . There was an expectation you’d work bank and extras whether you wanted to or not - the off duty was handed round every week and you were told to pick your extras, or you were phoned or facebooked and asked to come in and work more days/nights .

For higher levels most of the band 6 staff were working that 3/3/4 plus additional unpaid hours and then bank shifts as well, plus meetings etc .

Band 7 worked Mon-Fri officially 7-4pm but she was in usually 6am-9pm, unpaid . She was also asked to do one weekend per month of nightshifts , as a team of band 7s had to do hospital wide support for doctors at night eg if there was an ill patient or something .

Monkeyseesmonkeydoes - your ex was earning 80k as a nurse. Really.

Was she a band 8d? Nursing roles above a 7 are very few and far between!