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”?

Working in the NHS is like being in an abusive relationship. Bullying, gaslighting, fear. I’m from a “medical family”, thankfully I found a way to leave. I’d be horrified if my children wanted a career in medicine/nursing/AHPs.

I enjoy my job. But I don’t thinks there are many jobs where you earn £34k and it keeps you awake at night because you worry you’ve missed something because of your overstretched caseload. I have excellent time management and organisational skills, my husband also does and works in the private sector earning significantly more working less hours and he turns his computer off at 4pm and doesn’t think about work again. He’s had bonuses for continuing the business work over lockdown, I had one free lunch bought by a member of the public and a clap and a promise of no future pay rise.

I can’t progress to earn more as I’ll need to self fund a masters to go higher. I previously self funded some university modules for my progression as my pay ceiling (5 years ago) was £28k. So I now earn £6k more a year for being on a higher pay band with more responsibility after paying my own way their for their requirements and this £6k includes the ‘generous pay deal’ negotiated a few years ago.

It also costs me £60 a month to work when you take into account my registration, union and parking fees.

I my career I have been assaulted including been spat in the eye by a HIV postive patient resulting in 6 weeks of treatment and 6 months of HIV tests.

YANBU- In my experience it's due to several things namely
Ward managers who are so scared of litigation and patient complaints that they won't back their staff,
An old school culture of 'nurses eat their young' and new nurses being bullied if they don't fit into the culture of their first ward,
A massive imbalance in the effort put in by staff- some will be in the kitchen chatting while the conscientious ones are running round like blue arse flies!

That said for all it's flaws, there is a lot to be said for the job security and other benefits (eg adoption leave, sick leave, pension) as someone who started on minimum wage in private homecare companies- there is worse out there

You are right, the change was announced in 2016 and brought into action in August 2017.

I wouldn't count being able to take out loans and get into more debt as help towards living costs though. A lot of nursing students tend to be older than 18, many have children, mortgages, some may have already done a degree and potentially be leaving a well paid job. Many people would be put off at the prospect of getting into £27,000 - £54,000 worth of debt for a starting salary of £24,907.

Also, "right now it's £27,000 in fees with no help towards living costs" isn't right. Yes, the fees are 27k but students can also get loans of up to approx 9k per year towards living costs

Living cost loans have to be paid back at around 6% interest rate, same as the tuition fees, its not exactly "help" is it?
By the time rent is taken out, my DD is left with 1800 per year to live on, i am expected to contribute as she is a dependant BUT we lose CB...as she is no longer a dependent ???!!!

Apparently, from Sept, 5k per year can be claimed but the application process doesn't make it clear it will be awarded or when.

FE/HE in the UK, is a conn and DD is leaving the UK for Aus as soon as she is qualified, she has a job offer before even qualifying, in her cohort, most have no intention of working in the NHS or even the UK.

@northernsquirrel

YANBU- In my experience it's due to several things namely Ward managers who are so scared of litigation and patient complaints that they won't back their staff, An old school culture of 'nurses eat their young' and new nurses being bullied if they don't fit into the culture of their first ward, A massive imbalance in the effort put in by staff- some will be in the kitchen chatting while the conscientious ones are running round like blue arse flies!

That said for all it's flaws, there is a lot to be said for the job security and other benefits (eg adoption leave, sick leave, pension) as someone who started on minimum wage in private homecare companies- there is worse out there

Your right about the last part. I found care homes a much better environment the staff generally pulled together and worked as a team a lot more compared to NHS though.

There’s a variety of reasons IMO. I’ve been nursing almost 13 hours and I might be done soon.

The long hours and stress were my first thought. Lots of other jobs with long hours pay better.

I don't really understand your post. You ask a question but then you have provided your own answer. You've got first hand experience so you know why.

Unrealistic expectations- ridiculous patient complaints which are expected to be answered, no matter how bizarre. In appropriate use of A&E and over entitled people attending them. Abuse both physical and emotional in the workplace. The expectation that you give more to the job than you ever receive. Still being looked down on for being 'just' a nurse. Shift patterns that can't be maintained with a family life and no attempt to try and compromise. Financially not receiving a wage comparable to the work, or training that's expected. Staff who have given up, who do give patients a horrendous experience (everyone has a story of a shit nurse/ nurses they've been exposed to- my own family included. It's not a vocation for most anymore. Agency staff with not enough experience, or the skills to do the role. Personally- I still enjoy it- and enjoy the variety, but I can understand that when you've had enough, there is nowhere else to go, and when people feel trapped, I do believe their compassion decreases which results in a poor experience for both the nurse and the patient.

YANBU.

NHS staff don't need clapping and praise. You need decent working conditions, not be expected to work 24-hour plus shifts and a zillion hours a week, perhaps a pay rise, and basically not to be treated like shit.

NHS management, from the Prime Minister down, know that no doctor or nurse will want to leave a patient in need. That's why clinical staff get treated like shit, because management know they can get away with it.

That's how I see it anyway.

It needs to change. It's needed to change for years. But I very much doubt it will.

I have nursed for over 40 years. Nursing has evolved over the years to become a highly skilled profession. They are taking on more and more complex roles which is exciting on the surface. However whilst taking on these new roles nursing as a profession failed to seek suitable renumeration and recognition. They have passed many of their traditional skills down to untrained personnel. So is it any wonder that many feel undervalued and unappreciated.
Why pay a medic when you can pay a nurse half as much.

How much do they earn in Aus?

AU$25.35 - AU$43.59 per hour for a registered nurse
A pay rate ive never had but even thats not enough to convince me

All this bullshit about bullying too, flyers/info everywhere to report it etc etc, The NHS is riddled with it, and it all comes from the top. Ward managers (matrons in the old days) can make a nurses life a misery. Poor student nurses (supposedly supernumerary) being dragged in to the rota (but not documented of course) try and address/report it..ha!

Like I said before it's a bloody farce

Controversial view I know but I do sometimes think people are just not ambitious enough to find what they really want to do. Nursing is essentially an umbrella term for hundreds of different jobs across the health sector and the doors open to you if you're willing to explore them is rather endless. So many different specialist wards, community, emergency, mental health, sexual health, paediatrics, clinical roles, clerical roles, management, advanced practitioner roles, surgery, nursing homes, school nursing, health visiting and on and on it goes. Nurses say they dislike the profession now but how many of these options have they truly explored or are they talking about one, maybe two areas they've worked in?

I remember sobbing as a student nurse after my very first ward placement shift and wanting to quit there and then because if that was what nursing was there was no way I was cut out to be a nurse. 10 years later I'm in a job I genuinely love, I found my passion in nursing and followed it (admittedly I had the flexibility of being young and single during my early career which I acknowledge allows for a lot more risk taking and flexibility). There are of course the same political, managerial and staffing issues and frustrations as everywhere but that's true absolutely everywhere, not just in healthcare. You don't have to either settle for a job you hate or give up nursing altogether when there are so many options.

My best mate qualified in her 40s. She found her ideal role after a couple of years of HDU nursing, working in the community with bowel cancer patients. She has just been promoted to head up her team. It's perfect for her.
But her description of being a HDU nurse; being on shift for 12 hours, then spending an hour doing handover, the responsibility, the relentless demands of it, patients who didn't make it, dealing with their distraught families etc. All for actually not a lot more than working in a nice admin role. Her job now is emotionally challenging but has a proper work/life balance.

France is giving its health care staff good pay rises following the Covid 19 crisis,
U.K. is reintroducing staff car parking charges.
Says it all really.

You really answered your own question in your post. It's a shit job with little to no rewards basically. That's why no one wants to do it.

Your government is standing there, clapping for your work, while voting to not give you pay rises. While taking away free car parking. While blaming carers for covid affecting care homes more than expected.

If you don't like that, stop voting tory.