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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Just a rant from a nurse

420 replies

Bestkindaparty · 17/12/2022 20:42

I know there's a 101 threads about the nursing strike. But I just need an anonymous forum to rant.
I left home at 6am this morning and I'm only just getting home. I need a shower because someone threw their hot coffee over me because I didn't answer their buzzer fast enough and they needed a pillow. I didn't answer it quick enough because I was performing cpr on a child with suspected strep A. 12 hours into my shift without a break because we just don't have the staff.
All week on Facebook tiktok and other social media all I've seen is how disgusting us nurses are. How people will die because of the strikes all because we want more money.
Yes we want to paid fairly. We do not get paid enough for the training we do. 2300 hours of unpaid work and then other 3000 hours of uni. Plus all the responsibilities we have. Some people think we're just doctors assistants but its not like that anymore. But the main reason is we're tired of fearing for our pins (that we pay a yearly fee for) we're tired of not being able to care for people the way we want because there's not enough staff. The ratio is supposed to be 1 to 3. I can't remember when I've had less than 8 patients. We want to protect the NHS. We need people to join and to retain current staff who are leaving in droves due to burnout. What happens when there's none of us left?
We had no option but to strike. Nothing else has worked. We want to protect ours and everyone's future. Personally I don't want to cry on every drive to and from work because I'm scared someone will die due to me not being able to give the care they need.
If you've got this far thanks for reading

OP posts:
Reigateforever · 18/12/2022 00:15

Thank you for the work you do. The low paid NHS workers should have affordable (too expensive at the moment) child care, free parking and no university fees.

Livingtothefull · 18/12/2022 00:18

I support nurses 100%. That's all.

Purplepeoniesdroppingpetals · 18/12/2022 00:20

With you 100% - thank you for your work but thank you for standing up for better conditions too.

Mumtobabyhavoc · 18/12/2022 00:21

Bestkindaparty · 17/12/2022 20:42

I know there's a 101 threads about the nursing strike. But I just need an anonymous forum to rant.
I left home at 6am this morning and I'm only just getting home. I need a shower because someone threw their hot coffee over me because I didn't answer their buzzer fast enough and they needed a pillow. I didn't answer it quick enough because I was performing cpr on a child with suspected strep A. 12 hours into my shift without a break because we just don't have the staff.
All week on Facebook tiktok and other social media all I've seen is how disgusting us nurses are. How people will die because of the strikes all because we want more money.
Yes we want to paid fairly. We do not get paid enough for the training we do. 2300 hours of unpaid work and then other 3000 hours of uni. Plus all the responsibilities we have. Some people think we're just doctors assistants but its not like that anymore. But the main reason is we're tired of fearing for our pins (that we pay a yearly fee for) we're tired of not being able to care for people the way we want because there's not enough staff. The ratio is supposed to be 1 to 3. I can't remember when I've had less than 8 patients. We want to protect the NHS. We need people to join and to retain current staff who are leaving in droves due to burnout. What happens when there's none of us left?
We had no option but to strike. Nothing else has worked. We want to protect ours and everyone's future. Personally I don't want to cry on every drive to and from work because I'm scared someone will die due to me not being able to give the care they need.
If you've got this far thanks for reading

All nurses and support staff have my support and gratitude. 🌹

Peedoffo · 18/12/2022 00:23

1dayatatime · 18/12/2022 00:13

From discussions with my niece who works at a hospital, she said that one of the biggest challenges is a shortage of staff so that less staff are doing more work.

Apologies if this sounds like a stupid question but what are the main reasons in your opinion causing the shortage of staff (salary, Brexit, Covid burnout, management etc etc).

And what (aside from a deserved pay rise) should be done to reverse this staff shortage.

I don't recall having loads of EE nurses or them leaving. I know just one EE nurse in my area, we have loads from outside the EU. Nigeria and Ghana mostly. We did get more HCAs from EE but not many compared to Nigeria and Ghana. I work in a specialised area so that might be why. The pay is poor for the responsibility that's why , you are expected to now be prescribing ready at the end of the nursing degree and can sit the non medical prescribing course pretty much straightaway. The government are pushing doctors responsibilities on the cheap.

Peedoffo · 18/12/2022 00:25

Also paperwork , documentation (covering your arse) takes up so much time away from patient care. It's overloaded they never streamline documentation just add to it.

Wetblanket78 · 18/12/2022 00:28

I love JP.🥰😉

Mamai90 · 18/12/2022 00:32

My lovely sister is a nurse and I've heard similar stories from her. I support the strike 100%.

FlissyPaps · 18/12/2022 00:33

NHS administrator here. Support the strikes 100% and more.

You deserve the payrise.
You deserve the same pay as an agency worker doing the exact same job.
You deserve free parking.
You deserve better and safer working conditions.
You deserve recognition and appreciation - and not in the form of “clapping on the doorstep” or a painting of a rainbow.
You deserve morale.
Future nurses deserve free training.
Future nurses deserve to be paid for their placements.
Future nurses deserve a promising and worthwhile career.
All of you deserve respect.

Fuck the tories

I wish I could physically do something to help make this better.

yousawthewholeofthemoon · 18/12/2022 00:43

I support you and the strikes totally

Flossyhair · 18/12/2022 00:50

I fully support the nurses.

They were important enough for people encouaged to clap during COVID - despite the fact that clapping doesn't pay the wages it's a nice but empty gesture but I am sure that MPs wouldn't work for claps.

The government claims that the nurses shouldn't strike because they do an essential and life saving job and there will be serious consequences for the patients if they do.

Well if nurses are as important as the government say they are, they should be treated as such and more importantly, paid a decent wage to reflect their skill, training and expertise.

They need their working conditions improved and they need a realistic wage that they can live on in return for the time, effort, skills and dedication that they have put in to their career.

Forfrigz · 18/12/2022 00:52

I'm not against the strike but it seems to me like certain seors are just individually striking over pay like 'let us live comfortably in this orwellian shitscape'. Why don't we just focus on making the country less of a shitscape? What we need are bloody riots

WineIsMyMainVice · 18/12/2022 00:57

I completely 100% support and encourage you to strike. It’s the last resort, I know.
Thank you for all your hard work and efforts. It’s really appreciated by me, my family and I know plenty more.

nancydroo · 18/12/2022 00:58

Bestkindaparty · 17/12/2022 20:46

Also just to add. We're not angels. There's bad people in every profession but the majority of us just want to help and care for people in need. We're just burnt out and scared for the future

There's a lot of bad eggs in the nursing profession. People in positions of trust who judge, humiliate and punish patients. It is embedded in the culture in some places. Such a diverse profession, undoubtedly unfair to taint all with the same brush. But people have a long memory when victim of this.
Radical change is needed. I don't support the strikes but I also think change needs to happen for both nurses and patients. I empathise for the professionals who will suffer financially through collective action. I sympathise for the patients and their families whose suffering will be exacerbated through collective action.
It's not money that's needed. A complete redesign of the health system is required to benefit everybody.

Cm078 · 18/12/2022 00:59

Hca here. Fully support you.
Our pay is also diabolical for what we do i think. Hard work for everyone on the wards!

Twillow · 18/12/2022 01:01

Someone put something slightly critical post about nurses on facebook yesterday and the post was absolutely deluged with support for the strikes (as well as anger with the government). I see, in the great majority, great sympathy and support and anger for this situation having got this bad.

Twillow · 18/12/2022 01:10

willthatbeall · 17/12/2022 23:18

"I suspect you do very little yourself to make such clueless, insightless statements" Lapland - LOL!

Just giving my opinion which is that nurses striking YABU

BTW, I'm a teacher and am not supporting my union striking. I don't believe it's right to punish my students and screw with their futures for government fuckery. I didn't vote conservative in the last election either unlike the majority of the country.

I gave my opinion and don't plan to revisit this thread.

If you strike, you are not doing it to 'punish your students' and the few days without the regular teacher ia not going to 'screw with their future' - rather, you are exerting the small power you have to better their future education! Strikes are not simply about pay, they are about improving teacher well-being, therefore, effectiveness and increasing retention which, as I'm sure you're aware, is a massive issue in education currently.

Feckingfeck · 18/12/2022 01:13

Balloonsandroses · 17/12/2022 20:45

Doctor here. I support the nurses strike 100%. It’s an incredibly tough job under ideal circumstances and under current circumstances it’s just not possible to do safely - and the stress that causes is appalling. Desperately underpaid too. If either of my kids said they wanted to be a nurse I’d try very hard to discourage them and that’s a really sad state of affairs because I have such huge respect for my nursing colleagues.

Hi,

This exactly!

Its just sad you have to strike just to try and make things a bit farer!

The NHS is really going to struggle (even more than now) to recruit nursing staff especially the stresses and how poorly you are treated.

iwasaterribleteen · 18/12/2022 01:20

If nurses aren't paid enough then it becomes more and more difficult to recruit and retain them!

The NHS is on its knees without losing out on more great staff!

Bagpuss2022 · 18/12/2022 01:20

We stand with you it’s bloody awful and this is what’s needed the people need to stand together.
as a mum of a type 1 diabetic I’m in awe of you with all those shifts and not being able to eat/drink regularly.
my son also has a stoma bag and issues with that the nurses he’s had have been amazing as is the mental health nurse that I see weekly and I credit for me still being here

hope you enjoyed your wine and the overwhelming support on this thread has made a tiny bit of impact to make you feel less shit

endlesswinter · 18/12/2022 01:26

Ex children's social worker. I support you.
Trying to work in unsafe conditions is dreadful.
For workers and those that they are trying to support.

blackpearwhitelilies · 18/12/2022 01:35

You have all my support, my thanks and respect.

alwayscrashinginthesamecar1 · 18/12/2022 01:48

I support you. Anyone that thinks a pay rise wouldn't help is deluded. I'm in Australia and had to take my husband to A & E a few months ago. So many of the staff were from the UK or Ireland, including the doctor who treated my husband. He told us he had only planned to stay in Oz for a few years to gain experience, but the pay and working conditions in Oz were so much better that he wasn't going back. And we have staffing problems here too, it's not perfect by any means, but not as bad as the UK.

Bunnyfuller · 18/12/2022 02:10

And @Clavinova hits a new low: doubting the op doing CPR on a child ‘because it’s emotive’.

HappyMackerel · 18/12/2022 02:45

I fully support you and all the nurses striking. Conditions need to be better, for nurses as well as patients.