Leave Nursing

[ohsotired2022]

Help, stuck and not sure what to do?

I've been a Nurse for 19 years. Various roles at band 5, 6 & 7. Both community and hospital based.

Currently working in Mental Health, Outpatient dept. I hate it!
I received a diagnosis this year as being Autistic and my 3 children are ND.

I think as an ND individual I keep trying to find the right role that works but everywhere I look is designed for NT people.

I'm in my 40's and can retire at 60 so have been clinging onto that somewhat but not sure I cling on anymore.

Just looking for advice as to what other roles there are after nursing or within nursing but I've not found it yet?

I've asked around this before and one option that often comes up is lecturer. Where I live the Uni's look for you to have a Masters which I don't have.

I've previously worked as a Health Visitor and School Nurse.

I'm not sure if I should stay in the NHS for the pension although it is making me miserable or look outwith although would have to take a drop in pay.

Thanks ☺️

Come and join the civil service. We have a lot of ex teachers join, so sure it would be good for ex nurses too. I work for the Home office but so many departments. Pay is ok, and pension is excellent with an employer contribution of 28%. We have a few people in our team diagnosed with ND and we put in adjustments for them. Very family friendly, we have flexi hours in my team, and lots of progression. Take a look on civil service jobs. Recently had a recruitment freeze but looks to be coming out of that now

I'm guessing you are a paediatric nurse if done school nursing and HV? Have you considered 1 to 1 nursing? Some children have a their own nurse caring for them at home, funded by NHS, but usually working for an agency. It's a slower pace, calmer job which may work for you?

It might be helpful if you said what things you were looking for in a job?

I did 33yrs clinical and senior management. I left aged 48 because I was fully burnt out. It was the best decision of my life! I now live abroad and work remotely ghost writing books and blogs for websites! All from my own sun lounger/sofa ☺️

@Zanatdy thanks for this. This sounds really helpful. I never know where to look apart from NHS or LinkedIn. And LinkedIn only offers me Nurse Roles.
Do I just search "Civil Service Jobs" ?

@Bushmillsbabe I am Paediatric trained but also MH and HV.

I'm happy to go out and work. I like meeting people and hearing their stories and helping them.

I found the CP element of HV'ing hard.

I currently find the way the MH health department I work in has so much pressure and I feel with the pressure I receive at home from my children this is too much pressure at work too. If that makes sense.

@Memyaelf wow. This is amazing. You are living the dream. Are you making enough financially ? Well done getting out
I am just finding more and more that the whole environment within the NHS is so toxic.

We rent our house out in the uk, which is our ‘stable’ income and then I do about 15hrs max a week at 15euros an hour. You can get much more if your registration is current.

Here we go: https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi

You can set alerts too on there

@Memyaelf sounds a great set up.
I still have one child at High School and one at Primary so tied a bit for now but this sounds great. Will look into it.

Health informatics might be a suitable route? Or research?

Thanks @Zanatdy do you know what kind of roles the ex teachers are doing ?
I've had a look and so far not seeing roles that I have the skills for but will look at all the roles. I'm maybe not realising what transferable skills I have.

I don't know if this would appeal,a few of my nursing colleagues trained as chiropodist or podiatrist. Partly working in a clinic, partly Mobile, picking their own hours to suit.

I have no suggestions really but agree times are tough in the nhs at the minute.

The pressure to save money across all departments is phenomenal and exhausting. Our workload has literally doubled (and I mean patient load doubled!) in the past 8 weeks as a ‘more effective way of working’.

Im also in my 40’s working in management.

I absolutely love my job and patients but not sure how I can keep this up.

I truly hope you find a way out that doesn’t mean financial ruin for years! Then come back and tell me!

Would you consider nursing in a private school? I have a MH and HV background and moved into independent school nursing a few years ago. Still get lots of variety (injuries, acute and chronic illness, mental health) but the workload is smaller and the stress is faaaaar lower than any NHS job I ever had

Yes you should leave, as a patient in mental health outpatients it’s always obvious when you get a nurse who hates their job and it’s very damaging to the treatment and recovery process. For your sake and the patients’ sake I hope you find something more fulfilling 🙂

@Dropdout what are the Health informatics posts ?
I've seen Research posts and have thought about them but always been a bit unsure but maybe now is the time to try it out.

Thanks @Nannyfannybanny I did sign up for a Chiropractor online training a few years ago with the I mention of seeing how this went and then never completed the course. It's maybe time to revisit this. Good to hear what some ex nurses are doing.

Thanks @Pippa12 I have felt motivated and enthusiastic about my role in the past but now just feel stressed.
Not sure if it's to do with my own ND child and my age. Or the current pressures of the NhS or a combination of those factors.
Hope things become more manageable for you.

@Twoweeksandcounting yes, would definitely consider this. Will add this to today's search. Thanks for that suggestion.

Thank you @theresabluebirdinmyheart
I definitely wouldn't want to add to a patients distress and discomfort.
This is a helpful viewport.
It's something I've felt before about others and need to be mindful of this.

After 33 years in clinical I'd had enough (also menopausal) I too couldn't think what else I could do outside nursing it was all I knew. I then got a year's secondment in the Trust in the governance team that led to another admin role with Macmillan, I loved that until I retired. You can do it, look at 2025 as the year for change. Good luck x

Would you consider PIP assessor? I think assessments are contracted out to private companies and it's mostly telephone work from home. Like every other public sector role else these days I believe it's insanely pressured though.

Thanks @stonebrambleboy this sounds like it was a great opportunity for you. Glad you found something prior to retirement.
Yes, I do feel being perimenopausal may be a factor here.
I just feel burnt out.

Thanks for the positive vibes ! Going to hold onto that and focus on 2025 being a year of change.

@thankyouforthedayz thank you for PIP suggestion.
It's definitely a role I've thought about.
I've heard mixed reviews from those that have went down this route.

I'm not sure a pressurised role is right for me just now but definitely not ruling it out.

I can only see one specific nurse vacancy in health informatics right now but they do come up, search nurse or clinical and digital or informatics.
https://www.jobs.nhs.uk/candidate/jobadvert/H9070-24-0600?keyword=Nurse%20digital&skipPhraseSuggester=true&staffGroup=NURSINGG*ANDNDMIDWIFERYREGD&language=enn