Treatment of nurses in the NHS is mad

GoWalkabout · 12/08/2021 21:01

I don't understand it either. In mental health too there is no serious attempt to stop the haemorrhage of people leaving. Surely keeping on replacing them and burning out the next ones is not effective.

Namenic · 12/08/2021 21:10

Agree. They don’t put much effort/funding into retaining experienced nurses. It’s a spiral that’s hard to get out of - chronic understaffing leads to burnout for people who stay. Then they leave.

TooStressyTooMessy · 12/08/2021 21:11

It’s always been bad although is probably a little worse at the moment. You have just listed all the reasons I left ward work .

FleasInMyKnees · 12/08/2021 21:20

Gone are the days when you staffed on a ward you were interested in, undertook an ENB course, worked your way up to sister/charge nurse and got respect from your colleagues, patients and relatives.
Gone are the days a nurse could close beds because there were not enough staff to care for patients safely
Gone are the days when students, pupils and auxiliary nurses got abused and carried out all the essential careso that nurses could do the nursey things.

AdaFuckingShelby · 12/08/2021 21:24

Gone are the bursaries for student nurses, and with them the supply of new staff to replace those retiring.

eeyore228 · 12/08/2021 21:28

My DH has been verbally abused and assaulted at work. People just seem.to not care. There seems to be a perception that all the NHS do are TikTok and refusing treatment. We ignore the population size and the fact that hospitals services are reduced and there's not enough staff to deal with what's walking in the door, we ignore more people have MH issues and more have health conditions that we physically do not have space or.staff to help at once. So people take their frustration out.on the very people who for the most part are really trying to help. We want it all and sadly society believes they are entitled to treat nurse how they want. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen people abuse nurses.

Original poster

OverseasNurse · 12/08/2021 21:28

Yes I don't understand why anyone would enter the profession here without a bursary, I feel for the student nurses entering with debt and such poor wages. I have a difficult time working with students as it feels hopeless here.

OP posts:

Hobnobsandbroomstick · 12/08/2021 21:32

Sounds like you work on a ward OP.

Couldn't pay me enough money to go back. Ward work is ridiculous, look for something/anything else. Doesn't solve the problem of who will actually work on wards in the UK, but I'm so glad that I got out for my own health.

FlorenceNightshade · 12/08/2021 21:32

I think a big part of the problem is nurses are so reluctant to strike and take industrial action. I’ve seen frightening staffing levels and total lack of respect for our role from senior management (and the public at times) but have yet to see meaningful action taken. We’re seen as “angels” not degree trained highly skilled professionals and I don’t know how you fix that

Fairyliz · 12/08/2021 21:34

@OverseasNurse

Yes I don't understand why anyone would enter the profession here without a bursary, I feel for the student nurses entering with debt and such poor wages. I have a difficult time working with students as it feels hopeless here.

Sorry but I don’t understand this. Every student that does a degree ends up with a large debt unless financed by their parents.

A quick google suggests nurses start on £25907 is this correct? If so it’s about £5k more than average graduate starting salaries where I live (Midlands) so not that bad.

Cosmos123 · 12/08/2021 21:35

@OverseasNurse

I'm an overseas nurse and been in the UK for a year and a half now (came just before covid so seen the worst of it) I first want to say that I have respect for what the NHS does and that everyone can access care here. I have the highest respect for my fellow nurses who work tirelessly.

BUT I am shocked by how nurses are treated here! The expectations that we work unpaid overtime regularly (nearly every shift each week), absolute crap staffing ratios, understaffing and shit pay with no advancement for further training or development or skills, plus regular abuse from patients who are angry about service delays that are completely out of our control. I don't know a single nurse on my unit who isn't actively considering leaving the profession. (Compared to my home country where people are stressed by Covid but not considering leaving the work.)

I don't understand how the system can or will continue. We have been at approximately 40% staff level in the last month or so due to pingdemic, covid infections, isolation, etc and our patients have only increased but we literally can't run our service. AIBU to think it will fall apart any day now? Is this part of Tory privatisation plans to just run the NHS into the ground? Has it always been this bad for nurses in the NHS or is this all due to covid?

Where overseas are you based OP?

FlorenceNightshade · 12/08/2021 21:36

@Fairyliz the difference is nursing students have to attend placement. They work unpaid shifts and it makes having a part time job much harder. In Scotland the semesters are much longer than for regular students so no long summer to earn money. That’s why the bursary is essential

JumperooSue · 12/08/2021 21:39

YANBU, I’ve been verbally abused by a patient today and it’s been awful. It’s taken up all of my day dealing with one person who is just in appt with any care they get and I’m mentally exhausted this evening. Staffing is dire and I’m staying later and later as the paperwork just continues to increase. It’s hell.

JumperooSue · 12/08/2021 21:39

Unhappy with*

Hobnobsandbroomstick · 12/08/2021 21:40

@Fairyliz

Healthcare courses are different to other degrees as students spend about half their time working on placements, so can't easily fit in part time work. A lot of student nurses are older and have families etc or have already done one degree when they were younger so aren't eligible for student finance (though I'm guessing that that may have changed. The loss of the bursary made it unaffordable for many and put others off commiting to three years.

TheLovelinessOfDemons · 12/08/2021 21:40

It's so shocking, and the care DS1 has received from them since he was diagnosed at 5, he's now 30, has been consistently amazing. The 2 nurses in his team when he was little even urged me to go to the doctor to get checked out, as he needed me. They're so amazing.

Hobnobsandbroomstick · 12/08/2021 21:42

@Fairyliz

The holidays are also much shorter than standard courses. No 3 months off for summer.

essentialhealing · 12/08/2021 21:43

If it's so bad why haven't you left?

unfortunateevents · 12/08/2021 21:43

The student nursing bursary has been reintroduced, DS is a nursing student and gets one! However, he is feeling pretty deflated at the moment as he has just finished a community placement which was woefully understaffed with no seeming prospect of that improving and where apparently every single nurse told him that they wouldn't consider entering the profession now.

Hobnobsandbroomstick · 12/08/2021 21:44

@unfortunateevents

Does he have to pay his fees?

Ilovemycat13 · 12/08/2021 21:45

[quote FlorenceNightshade]@Fairyliz the difference is nursing students have to attend placement. They work unpaid shifts and it makes having a part time job much harder. In Scotland the semesters are much longer than for regular students so no long summer to earn money. That’s why the bursary is essential[/quote]
Medical degrees don’t have the same ‘long’ summers. So the bursary is essential not only in Scotland but everywhere else. I’m a student midwife and I had 3 weeks for summer and I’m back to placement already.

Hobnobsandbroomstick · 12/08/2021 21:45

Also with his last placement, you always get bad placements with unmotivated/unhappy staff. Hopefully the next one will be better!

Ilovemycat13 · 12/08/2021 21:46

Sorry @FlorenceNightshade I read your post wrong - ignore my post 😂😂
But you’re right. Our summers are super short. Bursary’s are back tho, hurrah

unfortunateevents · 12/08/2021 21:48

If it's so bad why haven't you left? - how is that a solution? Many, many nurses ARE leaving the profession so turnover levels are shocking in some areas and there are huge numbers of posts left unfilled. This just increases the pressure on those who remain, adds to the frustration of patients who can't be properly cared for, who take it out on the remaining nurses, who then are signed off with stress, leave the profession and it just goes around in a circle.

FlorenceNightshade · 12/08/2021 21:48

@Ilovemycat13 I only mentioned Scotland because that’s where I’m based and I know that funding and courses vary across the uk.