Why are nursing jobs hard to fill?

[SquishyBones]

Was watching the news earlier and they were saying that they predict a lot of nurses will quit the profession once the covid lark is over. Considering we already had a nurse shortage before covid ... this could be disastrous.

I mean, nursing is one of the only professions where you’re practically guaranteed a job for life. I could quit my job tomorrow and find another within weeks. At one time, I had 3 successful job interviews and could choose which one to go for. In the community, our place is constantly advertising for band 5s but half the applicants don’t even turn up for the interview and those that do get the job and quit within months.

I remember once I landed what I considered to be an amazing, perfect job. I felt very special ... until I was told that I was the only one who applied for it 😂 I totally cocked up the interview too, I even got the name of the company wrong (called it NHS but it was actually a different company) and I hadn’t even researched what services they offer! So when they asked me I outright said “I don’t know”. Yet I got the job as they were desperate. But why is this the case?

5 years post qualifying I don’t like nursing and I don’t intend to keep doing it. The pay is shit, you are treated like shit, pay to park at work, pay for your registration every year, Constant training, constant pressure, expected to be a robot with no personal life ....

The final straw came for me when a patient ranted at me that I was selfish working part time when the NHS is in such dire need of nurses. He said I was putting myself before my patients. I corrected him and said it wasn’t for my benefit as such ... more for my dog that I don’t want to leave alone for long periods. He was fuming.

AIBU to thinking nursing and healthcare in general need to do something drastic now to shake up the system to make people actually WANT to “nurse”?

And I’m not just talking about salary!

They need to offer the training for free, why would anyone get into 20k plus of debt to be a nurse? You have much less opportunity to repay it on our salary. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone now, although I still love my job there's no way I'd have got into debt to qualify

Same here, the bursary cut was the worst thing they could have ever done. Especially when the course is so bloody difficult and time consuming leaving little opportunity to work elsewhere for money.

I do object to people who've received government training bursaries working part time, long term.

I think anyone who has received any sort of government training bursary or fee waiver, should be required to work full time for a minimum of 10 years post qualifying, prepay the bursary on a pro-rate basis. I would suggest that for periods of maternity/parental leave we should "pause the clock" on the 10 years.

Ps Hoho

I agree the training should be free/govt funded, but contingent on actually working in the NHS for a minimum period post qualifying.

There’s a variety of reasons IMO. I’ve been nursing almost 13 hours and I might be done soon. I think it’s great to have a vocation but the profession takes its toll.

As HoHofortherobbers says students are expected to get into debt they may well never get out of. The progression can be somewhat limited. If you don’t progress you’re stuck doing unsocial hours. I don’t know how many days out, social events I’ve missed because I was working. The pay is okay to start with but if you don’t climb the ladder you can be like me, stuck at the top of Band 5 without much of a pay rise in years (anything I gained from the last pay rise was less than my pension increase!). It’s physical work as a general rule. I did years in an environment where I was regularly assaulted. Then when you have health problems it often feels like you’re an inconvenience. And of course the Baby boomers are all taking retirement so we’re losing a huge proportion of our work force there! More people leaving nursing than being recruited.
I don’t know what else I would do....I’ve always felt like nursing is a huge part of who I am. I don’t want to walk away but I have to face the possibility that my health problems may stop me carrying on

5 years post qualifying I don’t like nursing and I don’t intend to keep doing it. The pay is shit, you are treated like shit, pay to park at work, pay for your registration every year, Constant training, constant pressure, expected to be a robot with no personal life

Uhhhmm, I think you have answered your own question right there.

Whilst this is possibly due to the demographic of my friends, every nurse / midwife/ HCP I know works very, very part time hours (one shift a week).

The pay and respect they get doesn't match the work they are required to put in.

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

Option A: nurse works full time for 10 years, burns out, then quits nursing.

Option B: nurse works part time for 40 years, then retires.

Atm student nurses are paying £9000 in fees per year and not getting a bursary anyway. From this September they'll get a £5000 bursary to help with living costs, but still be paying nearly twice that in fees.

@SquishyBones

Do you want to nurse? I'm six years in and often fantasize about leaving to work in a florist or be a dog walker.

5 years post qualifying I don’t like nursing and I don’t intend to keep doing it. The pay is shit, you are treated like shit, pay to park at work, pay for your registration every year, Constant training, constant pressure, expected to be a robot with no personal life

You're really selling it to me there.

But a little thing that the NHS/government could do, if improving pay, conditions and funding is too much of an ask, is to make parking at work free. That would probably be a better thank you than all the clapping and rainbows nonsense.

@ItsMutinyontheBunty : You're not seriously thinking of leaving after 13 hours, surely?
Bloody hell - it really must be bad!!😂😂😂

I love my job and wouldn't want to do anything else. (Toying with training to be a cat groomer though) Paediatrics is just wonderful. And somewhat removed from the stresses of adult land. But I agree that cancelling the bursary was a huge mistake. I very lucky in that I had one and lived at home. So
Had no debt.

To be fair, you could be describing most jobs. There isn’t a sea of flexible, well paid, jobs with free parking out there. Most people pay for their degree and professional membership too, and have to undertake regular training.

But having to work full time and awkward shifts is the massive barrier. Once you have children it’s impossible to find childcare outside of family that facilitates working shifts. So if your a a single parents or your other half works shifts too (common in nursing) then you can’t really work full time. Plus when you have kids you do actually want to see them and be there for them x

oops I mean years! Although I did have a friend who did a total of two shifts on her first placement before she quit!

Dd thought about becoming a nurse. I’ll be honest, I did my best to put her off. The pay isn’t great imo (and I work in childcare, where the pay is even worse), but for all the unsociable hours, overnights, weekends, bank holidays etc, I really don’t think it is worth it. I assume at some point she will want a family, I know nurses who have missed all their young children’s Christmas’s and I don’t want that for her.

Despite all the clapping that went on, I just don’t think the government appreciate nursing as a profession and I am always shocked by how badly they are compensated, reading upthread that they have to pay for their degree/training, pay to stay registered each year, pay for parking at the hospitals. Knowing that they work 12 hour shifts, many going without breaks beCause they are so short staffed. I just can’t see the perks for them.

It’s a dire situation for healthcare to be in.

I’m 7 years in, I like my job most of the time. But regularly consider leaving and retraining. But then my pension is really good so I might struggle when I retire if I left the profession. Not sure what to do really.

I love my job but it is bloody hard, mentally, physically, emotionally and financially. You have to really want to do it to get any kind of benefit out of it and even then some people find it's not for them after qualifying.

And yes, free parking at the absolute minimum would have helped more than the clapping. That said the free pizza and ear protecters were all very nice.

I think the fees are shocking for nursing now! It was free when I did it and that was one of the main factors in me deciding to do nursing (well the no course fees and the fact I wanted a job at the end of uni, not just a degree)

Primarily I think jobs go unfilled now because of the course fees, and because it is a difficult career to train in when you have a family and the job itself is also not very family friendly. Well actually who wants to work nights weekends and bank holidays really! I would imagine that puts a lot of people off. Also I don’t think people realise how academic nursing is now, gone are the days when we were simply doctor’s handmaidens the course is demanding and I think some students don’t expect that.

It probably is still a job for life if you want it to be but nursing vacancies are hard to fill because there's little respect for nurses despite the clapping, the pay isn't great, the hours are rubbish, the bullying and racism culture still exists, there's little thanks but plenty of criticism and blame aimed at nurses. But if you like looking after people, are kind and thoughtful, find the job interesting and are willing to put up with the nonsense you will be fine. If you begin to hate it then its time to go.

I have just left nursing in the NHS after 15 years due to reasons mentioned here. As I have young children I have worked part time for alot of that time so according to one poster , I should be paying back the money for my training. Perhaps they can factor in every break, lunch break, early start/late finish I have done without pay and we can call it quits?

Anyway, apart from the reasons given, there is this feeling that nurses should never complain or express disappointment such as missing your child's first christmas - 'well, you knew it would be unsocial hours' or working in a pandemic 'that's what you signed up for'. There is also the people that think they own you. I saw a thread yesterday about a nurse that went on a tv show and there were posters saying they should be reported to the NMC. I want my life back.

And I'm fed up of doing the work of three people and being spoken to like crap by both patients and management.

Am I wrong in assuming that the majority of nurses are still female? Shift work, inflexible hours and no capacity to go part time are instant barriers to working mothers.

Then you're in £30k worth of debt before you qualify. Your salary is a pittance and as people have said, being assaulted and abused is seen as 'part of the job'.

I have family who received the bursary for another similar degree (not nursing) and it did used to come on the condition that they worked in the NHS for five years. You were also not eligible for as much student loan because of the bursary. So some students actually chose to not take the bursary because they would be financially better off in the long run.

Because our managers don't care. We're expected to do more work in less time with a smile on our face.
Because the patient/relatives are always right, even when they're not 'of course I'll shower your mum twice a day Mrs Jones, even though it means Betty in the bed hasn't had a shower in a week as we've been so short staffed'.
It's feeling like even your very best is never good enough.
It's being blamed when things go wrong due to short staffing. I don't know how I'm meant to prevent an infectious patient in a sideroom falling when I've only 4 staff covering a 40m ward with 30 patients.
It's because even after being victim to a serious assault by a patient I was told I couldn't leave my ward due to staffing and had to continue caring for the same patient.

Plus your held over a barell, when you refuse to do anything, even for safety your threatened with your job and your pin.