Only lower class girls become nurses

[upsidelow]

I am a nurse, definitely from a working class background for which I am proud. I had it said to me that it's the poor or thick girls that become nurses. To be fair the person who said it did not know that I am a nurse but still...Is that what people think? That you don't need to be clever to be a nurse! I studied for three years, I also have post graduate qualifications too. My job is demanding and requires a lot of time and attention. I am not thick! Apparently bright girls being teachers...

Of course they should….nurses need to be critical reflective thinkers …..they need the academic background that provided reasearch skills and the like …..many myself included go on to specialise and gain post graduate qualifications ….they are not doctors handmaidens you kniw🙄

My mum told me at 14 someone came in to chat about careers before they left school, all the girls were excited with ideas of what they wanted to do but the woman was told not to bother with them as they were all being signed up by the factory owner, and that’s where they just about all went the following month. It’s hard to imagine.

My mum complained to my Headmaster about the quality of education we were getting. He said there was no point as we would all amount to nothing anyway.
I lived in a VERY poor area and my family were like shameless.

Why not Nursing has changed immeasurably over the past 30/40 years ,Nurses are professional, s in their own right not hand maiden's to the Doctors ,wiping fevered brows.

The class remark is odd, I just could never understand the value proposition - if you are prepared to make the lifestyle sacrifices that medicine requires, why not be one a doctor? Much better pay and conditions long term.

Totally different profession, s Nurses are not wannabe Doctors they are health care professionals in their own right just as other allied health care professionals are

Yeah, I know that - I just don’t understand it. Why would you want to voluntarily go into this profession to kill yourself working for such a low wage. You might as well become a doctor if you have a capability. Other allied professions such as physics, dentists etc don’t have the same work-life balance trade offs and are often paid more (dentists certainly are). I think mainstream nursing has terrible value for money equation. And it’s not even free to train anymore.

It is not a low wage if you move up or into specialisms. Even at Band 5, unsocial hours payments can take you to a decent wage.
In hospitals, unlike Drs you leave on time. Or teachers who have to do work at home.

Physician Associates, a specialist nurse, are often paid more than Drs with the same number years of experience.

Fair enough - I guess you never hear from those and I guess they are not the vast majority. I was under the impression that nurses are paid on average in mid 30s which for me is very low relative to what that involves. I stand corrected.

It really does depend on your field. As a Band 6 community MH nurse (so still fairly early career), I get paid £40k for 9-5 hours, including at least 1 day a week working from home. It’s really not a bad deal at all, with good development chances too.

@AliceInWonderland24 The average nurse salary in the UK is £36,492 per year with additional allowances from £580 - £4,704. 42% of nurses in the NHS are Band 5, the starting band. Any qualified nurse will after 4 years be earning £36,483 - the top of Band 5.
Average midwife salary is £41,397 per year.

The average nurse salary is higher than the average median salary. Its not very high, but in comparison to lots of other jobs like teachers, it is competitive. Unlike many professional jobs, you do not do over your hours. So that makes a big difference. And there are masses of specialisms you can move into.

My son was in intensive care last year and it surprised me that most of the nurses caring for him were only on a band five ,they had to have a huge a amount of knowledge and they all had or were all working towards a masters degree as part of their contract. I do think certain ares of nursing should attract a higher starting point
Before agenda for change was brought in mental health nurse, s for example got a mental health lead in their pay basically a bit extra for working in that area .

The majority of ICU nurses nationally are on band 6. Maybe that ICU were struggling with recruitment?

How do they prove their intellect? Certainly not by means of getting a degree as the world and his wife gets one these days. Jobs ( in general ) they ask for degrees now used to require a levels when I left school.

In a way it's a shame that all nurses have to have degrees. Nothing wrong with the other option of starting at the bottom and working your way up. Maybe be less nurses who think they are " above" doing any traditional nursing care ( left to hca nowadays)

But as PP have said it was nearly all middle class women who were nurses originally

Tbh now there is no bursary I'd say it's only middle class people (whoever that is) and up can afford to become a nurse!

I don't, know ?
Most I spoke to were definitely band five as I said it surprised me because I feel they should be at least a band six .

There are different routes of getting into nursing,
A friend of mine trained aa a nursing associate ,and got paid throughout her training ,on qualifying she quickly went into a top up training and qualified last year as a registered nurse ,she didn't pay fees and got paid throughout as an apprentice.

Why would people who are traditionally working class (factory workers) not aspire to be nurses! It’s much better paid. There’s lots of opportunities for career specialisms and higher pay. It’s far better than the non graduate jobs many grads get.

My mother was a nurse in WW2 in London. So yes, bombs! The hospital was bombed too. Her dad was a tenant farmer and she went to a grammar school. The exams were set at a level that you did need some intelligence to pass them. As now. She got 10 shillings a week whilst training. All board and lodging found. So it was pocket money really! It was poorly paid and certainly factory work would have paid more! However if you really want to do a job, you want to do it. I’m amazed she went to London though. Her best friends were from rural areas too.

It was seen as a career for women. That tended to keep pay low. With any average or median pay now, many are paid above both those salaries. It’s difficult to say nursing is lowly paid. It simply is not. Like many careers it’s not highly paid from day 1 but it’s comparable with similar jobs. It’s unfortunately true that 42% of degree holders don’t do degree level jobs at all! Nurses 100% get degree level jobs after their degrees. Others don’t. Nursing degrees have work and study - my DM had work and study. No difference really - just no bombs!

They really aren't. The vast majority of nurses are Band 5, including ICU.

Top two google hits say majority of NHS ICU nurses are on band 6. Maybe they are wrong?

https://nursesgroup.co.uk/critical-care-nursing-uk

https://www.nurses.co.uk/blog/average-icu-nurse-salary-in-the-uk-/

42% of nurses in England are on band 5. That is not, by any stretch of the imagination, the “vast majority”, but rather somewhat less than half. In some areas of nursing, pretty much everyone is band 6 or above, while in others this is less the case. It does depend on how much autonomy you’re expected to have as a practitioner and what kind of decisions you need to make independently, plus whether you manage anyone. For example, in my MH community team everyone is at least band 6 but that’s because we manage large case loads independently with only limited, usually medication related, input from a doctor.

5 years on band 5 pays over £36,000. It cannot be the case that the vast majority earn exactly the average or median. There clearly are some below and some above. I suspect the differences are where the jobs are based and how senior the nurses are. A young nurse would obviously earn less as these are pay grades and experience is rewarded. A Quick Look at vacancies shows differences!

Some nurses progress through the bands very quickly i have seen some people reach fair senior manager level within 10 -15 years ,it depends how ambitious a person is.