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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Handing in my notice. Nhs

26 replies

drinkingwineoutofamug · 12/02/2022 10:27

Not quite an Aibu but need advice as I'm torn.
I've worked for the nhs for 17 years. I qualified December 2020 , slap bang in the middle of an pandemic.
I have seen disregard towards patient safety and staff well-being.
I'm not prepared to risk my registration and my own health, already dropped my hours. I am being moved to areas leaving my own ward dangerously understaffed.
I appreciate this is all over the nhs and care in general at the moment.
I have found and applied for another job.
But I'm not sure I'm doing the right thing. It's still with the nhs but office based, in a area I'm interested in.
Same hours but less pay as now.
I just feel like I'm putting in datix all the time regarding dangerous situations, falls, patient care and attacks on staff by patients as we are so under staffed.
No one cares.
I'm probably in the wrong job for caring and need to go Aldi .

OP posts:
Original poster
drinkingwineoutofamug · 12/02/2022 10:28

Typo
Less pay as no weekends

OP posts:
ShittyFingers · 12/02/2022 10:30

So you don’t like your job, you have applied for a new one and been successful, you are now handing in your notice.

Am I missing something?

endofagain · 12/02/2022 10:32

Before you do anything, check how you can keep your registration even if you go into an admin job for a while. You might find that a break will give you a chance to reassess, maybe do some additional courses, get back into a different clinical role in a year or two. You might just need to do some bank work for a certain number of hours a year. One of the mum's at my dc's primary school was a midwife and while her Dc were small she did one shift a week so she could stay on the register. It was manageable and not too stressful.

Original poster
drinkingwineoutofamug · 12/02/2022 10:34

@ShittyFingers

So you don’t like your job, you have applied for a new one and been successful, you are now handing in your notice.

Am I missing something?

Sorry I wasn't clear. Yes I'm miserable in my job. Yes I've applied for a different role No , the application hasn't closed yet so not handed in my notice.

My head is a mess with this. I don't know if I'm doing the right thing by wanting to leave and making the situation regarding staffing worse.
Sorry for not being clear.

OP posts:
Original poster
drinkingwineoutofamug · 12/02/2022 10:36

@endofagain

Before you do anything, check how you can keep your registration even if you go into an admin job for a while. You might find that a break will give you a chance to reassess, maybe do some additional courses, get back into a different clinical role in a year or two. You might just need to do some bank work for a certain number of hours a year. One of the mum's at my dc's primary school was a midwife and while her Dc were small she did one shift a week so she could stay on the register. It was manageable and not too stressful.
Thank you. The role is office based but also doing hands on nursing on the wards and community. So I will be able to keep my registration.
OP posts:
ShittyFingers · 12/02/2022 10:38

@drinkingwineoutofamug oh don’t worry about that, the NHS is fucked either way. If you died tomorrow they’d be advertising your job before your funeral was sorted out. Look after yourself first and foremost. I say that as a nurse.

SC215 · 12/02/2022 10:40

My head is a mess with this. I don't know if I'm doing the right thing by wanting to leave and making the situation regarding staffing worse.

It's not your job or responsibility to fix staffing issues. It is the managers. Some wards have a very high turnover of staff, for a reason.

I absolutely hated my first nursing job. But felt so guilty about leaving as it was making the staffing issues worse. My managers made me feel so guilty I nearly stayed. But I'm glad I left, I loved my second job, and my third and my fourth. If I had stayed in my first job, I would have ended up leaving nursing completely.

Hope you love your new job.

JADS · 12/02/2022 10:42

Everything @ShittyFingers said except the recruitment bit. That will still take another 6 months to even get to advert!

Can you afford the drop in wages?

Original poster
drinkingwineoutofamug · 12/02/2022 10:47

@JADS Can you afford the drop in wages?

Yes. I've done some basic maths and will still ok.
Just won't be able to put as much into my savings pit each month.
I don't spend much anyway just basic living costs and necessities ie new coat when needed or occasional coffee with friends.

OP posts:
Original poster
drinkingwineoutofamug · 12/02/2022 10:49

@ShittyFingers @SC215
Thanks, it will be different to what I'm doing , but I do a lot of it on the ward already if that makes sense.
Always had an interest in this role , just wasn't available when I qualified.
Will see what happens

OP posts:
JADS · 12/02/2022 10:52

Good luck @drinkingwineoutofamug and don't feel guilty. It sounds like the right thing and if you can afford it, not working weekends/evenings is the dream.

Original poster
drinkingwineoutofamug · 12/02/2022 10:54

Thank you. You're all making me realise I am making the right decision.
Sometimes you need to hear it from strangers , not just family and friends who tell you how lucky you are to have a 'cushy' job during a pandemic and why are you complaining.
No longer friends.

OP posts:
godmum56 · 12/02/2022 10:58

Its pretty simple OP, leave if you want to, don't if you don't. The NHS is am employer and you should treat it like any other employer.

Eycaluptus · 12/02/2022 11:24

@drinkingwineoutofamug

Thank you. You're all making me realise I am making the right decision. Sometimes you need to hear it from strangers , not just family and friends who tell you how lucky you are to have a 'cushy' job during a pandemic and why are you complaining. No longer friends.
I feel this so much OP! Also NHS, also had these comments. Not just from family/friends but also from other colleagues. I've also dropped my hours and always looking for other options.

You're making the right decision for you. Good luck, I hope you get shortlisted!

Sparkletastic · 12/02/2022 11:26

Try community nursing - it's completely different to working in an acute and far more rewarding for many clinicians.

GeneLovesJezebel · 12/02/2022 11:28

I’ve worked for the NHS for probably longer than you have been alive.
It doesn’t get better, and you can’t save it. So save yourself.

Allnightlong2016 · 12/02/2022 11:30

Come and work in social care, we need nurses who care. Pay is often better but benefits are sometimes less than NHS. It’s a different pace to nhs more like marathon than the sprint that the nhs is. You will develop your professional autonomy and make a difference to the lives of people. Social care nursing has changed over recent years and is challenging but the ability to make a difference is there.

GeneLovesJezebel · 12/02/2022 11:35

I would suggest you stay in the NHS if you can, pension and sickness is much better than in the private sector.

SC215 · 12/02/2022 11:50

I would suggest you stay in the NHS if you can, pension and sickness is much better than in the private sector.

Why do people always say the NHS pension is good? It's better than some private sectors, but under the 'new' scheme you can't claim it until you're at least 68!

GeneLovesJezebel · 12/02/2022 11:54

@SC215

I would suggest you stay in the NHS if you can, pension and sickness is much better than in the private sector.

Why do people always say the NHS pension is good? It's better than some private sectors, but under the 'new' scheme you can't claim it until you're at least 68!

Perhaps because it’s better than what they are in now, so they get to say so.
Kshhuxnxk · 12/02/2022 11:55

Do whatever you think is best for you and your family surely? I don't like your Aldi comment though, a job is a job, even if you think you're better than anyone not in the wonderful NHS. We get it you've had a shit 2 years, as have many many others.

tkwal · 12/02/2022 11:58

Two clichés for you

  1. No one is irreplaceable
  2. You only have one life
Best wishes and thank you for what you have already done
TangoWhiskyAlphaTango · 12/02/2022 12:02

@Sparkletastic

Try community nursing - it's completely different to working in an acute and far more rewarding for many clinicians.

I agree. I've been in the community for 23 years now and was a DN but now have a practitioner role. Love it, fab team, never feel stressed. Band 7 with no management responsibility, one weekend a month purely clinical. I'd never work in the acute setting it would destroy my soul.

VelvetChairGirl · 12/02/2022 12:06

do whats best for you, this government relies on the empathy and sympathy of others to get away with what they do.

thats why there are food banks instead of a better benefits system and why care staff get shit wages, they prey on your feelings they see as weaknesses and take advantage of them to skimp on spending so they can shove more in their own pockets.

Canaloha · 12/02/2022 12:23

It's just a job people, if you aren't enjoying it and it's affecting you personally and professionally then absolutely the right thing to do. Don't feel guilty!