To be sick of the stereotype image of nurses

[GoldenZoe]

... as poorly paid bed-pan changers?
Another debate on Twitter today where the media is peddling poor nurses working extra shifts and visiting food banks (which of course happens and is horrible but is not the everyday for most nurses) now giving rise to astonished cries of 'what a nurse only earns £25k'? Firstly £24k+ is the starting salary of a band 5 newly qualified nurse. This constitutes basic salary and does not include fairly generous enhancements. The top band 7 salary rises to £43,772 basic plus enhancements. Now I know a lot of nurses don't reach a 7 (or even a 6) but this media chestnut darling of the chronically under-paid nurse does my head in. For perspective my son recently graduated from Leeds university with a BSc in Economics and has a job earning £24k at the moment. So what is the uproar?
And as for the wildly out-moded public concept of the nurse as a doctor's handmaiden running round making beds and doing commode runs don't get me started! The general public have NO IDEA of how complicated and skilled most nursing jobs (of which there is a huge variety). And this fault lies entirely with media portrayal. Advanced Nurse Practitioners who have non medical prescribing qualifications who are working in posts the old junior doctors used to do. Cannulating, prescribing, placing PICC lines, undertaking complex medical procedures not to mention running wards and in charge of patient flow/beds trust-wide!
The continued false media portrayals infuriate me. Thoughts?

[avoidingwork]

The Nurses I worked with in my last NHS job were hard-working, intelligent people who worked in service redesign, professional education, research and innovative practice. This was not, however, ward-based,
They were well paid and professional people.

[GoldenZoe]

@Lifeisabeach09 that made me LOL

[WeWantSweet]

If only we had a world where people were paid according to their value to society..

[user1497787065]

No one mentions the excellent employers pension contributions which should always be included in pay package. It does become tiresome that nurses are hailed as halo wearing heroes. They are paid to do a job they are not volunteers.

[QueenofPain]

Flow coordinators in my ED and the last one I worked aren’t even registered nurses, they’re band 3 administrative/reception staff.

[GoldenZoe]

@QueenofPain 😂 in our trust they're 7s and all they do is walk round with an iPad all shift stepping on the coordinators toes

[minesagin37]

@lizzyliz2 not bitter and twisted at all are you? My experience of working as a band 7 was quite different from your portrayal. Perhaps you don't necessarily see all the other shit a band 7 has to put up with!

[StoneofDestiny]

Just to add, yesterday I did a 14.5 hour shift with no break, worked on a third less staff than I should have been, and got punched and my thumb twisted back by an aggressive patient. I sincerely doubt your son works in those conditions

Just finished a conversation with a neighbour whose prison officer son has just been hospitalised after an attack (not the first) from a violent prisoner.
He was stuck in, I think, hours beyond his shift due to 'lockdown' conditions It's a daily occurrence in the top security prison.
The pay is crap, conditions crap, staffing level crap, public and political party interest in their situation virtually nil.
I've no issue with nurses pay - but they are a profession the public are more interested in than the prison service.
Thank goodness the nurses and doctors are patching up her son, but he'll be back into the same conditions soon with no politician giving a toss.

[MyNameIsMrsGrumpy]

I’ve met some amazing nurses in my time who are worth their weight in gold!

And unfortunately I’ve met more nurses who are absolutely atrocious at their jobs. And have nearly cost me my life by their mistakes.

And do not get me started on my ibd nurse - Ive had better Advice/conversations with my dog 🤷‍♀️

Or the nurses in the hospital where my sister died...that was a cluster fuck I’ve seen better care of animals than I have of humans by those nurses...

Their pay is no worse than many other occupations. The studying they have had was no harder than mine, I have the same student debt etc. They do not work any harder than I do, and any less hours than I do.

It’s all relative.

[MyNameIsMrsGrumpy]

Just to add, yesterday I did a 14.5 hour shift with no break, worked on a third less staff than I should have been

Your not the only one who has no breaks...and works with less staff than you should do 🤷‍♀️

[avoidingwork]

@MyNameIsMrsGrumpy I think your student debt may be higher if you didn't do a bursary course.

[AtiaoftheJulii]

The studying they have had was no harder than mine

A nursing degree is generally about 45 weeks per year. Other degree courses usually aren't. That's why the removal of the bursary hits student nurses hard - much less spare time in which to earn money.

[ichifanny]

To be honest the amount of times I’ve heard people saying we are angels and nursing is ‘ a vocation ‘ drives me bonkers , we are skilled professionals and deserve to be paid as such like any others . I honestly think the perception of us being angels means people don’t value us or believe we serve decent pay .

[ichifanny]

Loved how it turned into a ruse bashing thread and how people feel the need to tear us apart . You don’t get that as much with any other profession .

[ichifanny]

Nurse

[GoldenZoe]

@ichifanny I agree that perception is so damaging!

[StoneofDestiny]

Loved how it turned into a ruse bashing thread and how people feel the need to tear us apart . You don’t get that as much with any other profession

Teachers are bashed far more - sadly for them.

[LucheroTena]

If it’s so cushy and well paid then why are there >40,000 vacant posts and a workforce retention crisis?

[GoldenZoe]

@IheartNiles who said it was cushy? 🙄

[HappyHarlot]

Starting pay for a teacher is higher than a nurse.

Not that that excuses abuse.

[Tiredemma]

I'm not even going to begin to describe the shit my nursing staff are dealing with on a daily basis.

If I had my time again I wouldn't even start nurse training

[GoldenZoe]

@HappyHarlot £24,373 according to the most recent teaching pay scale I've just looked at so by a handful of tens only negligeable

[SauvignonBlanche]

I don’t know why we’ve got a recruitment problem?

[Gooseygoosey12345]

I think nurses don't get paid enough for what they do, not that they get paid poorly in general. I also think that nurses are superhuman. They do so much it's insane. They're always the most helpful and caring as well. They seem to be able to help with a specific patients needs more so than a doctor because they spend more time with the patient and seem to have a kind of intuition (that sounds ridiculous written down but whenever I, or a family member, have been in hospital it's always the nurses who've made the biggest difference to the outcome). Obviously there are "bad" nurses, you get that in every profession, but I don't think that it's a job you can do if you're not passionate about it because the attraction is definitely not the wages!

[Pippa12]

I’ve had this discussion with my mum today. I genuinely believe that society have not the first clue what nurses really do anymore, the roles, responsibility and emotional strain we endure. I love my job but it’s certainly evolved over the years- leaving my children all Christmas eve and Xmas day for the same pay as I get on a Sunday probably stings the most... didn’t think of that at 18 years old tho! We used to get a free breakfast Xmas day... that’s not allowed anymore either