My husband has said I can quit my job if I want to.

[QueenofmyPrinces]

I’m a nurse, obviously anxious about what dangers and nightmares lie ahead, and my DH has just said that I don’t have to go to work if I don’t want to, and he’d rather us live on just one wage if it meant I could be kept safe.

Has anyone else working in hospitals ever felt so nervous about what’s to come that they’d consider leaving?

I'm not sure the lack of PPE is about funding. I was under the assumption that there is a worldwide supply problem due to such huge demand. Having said that, a lot should have been stockpiled.

OP it is entirely your decision and do not let anyone guilt you into doing anything other than what your gut tells you. I say this as an ex service person who went to both the second Gulf War and Afghanistan. I knew when I signed up that my life could potentially be on the line. You didn't, you signed up to do the best for your patients to the best of your abilities. Not to fight a war with no weapons or cover whatsoever. You should do what you think is best.

Presumably you would need to give a months notice and can't just not turn up tomorrow?

Perhaps she works in Holly City.

*Holby

I’m a nurse, no longer working. I am relieved beyond words that I’m well out of it. My heart goes out to those of you working on the frontline, you must be terrified.

DH and I are both front line nurses - I’ve been redeployed from an education post. I’m seeing so many of these threads it’s depressing. Yes, it’s truly shocking and scary out there. But why do some people think their families are more important than others? If we all did like you, who is going to man the ventilator if you or you DH/DC need one, god forbid. How would you feel if one of you contracted it anyway, highly likely even for non nurses, and you were told “sorry, we cannot ventilate your child/husband/mother as all the nurses have left as they didn’t want to risk it.... we’ve got a retired porter who is volunteering who is willing to give it a bash though”. I’ve never felt so proud yet so disappoint with nursing as I have over the past few days. If you do decide you can’t hack it, at least have the decency to leave and not take tax payer funded sick leave.

My heart goes out to you. We’re all scared of it, we don’t know how it’ll affect each of us at any time if we catch it and that’s us regular people sitting at home. You’re increasing your risk by also providing very vital and necessary care. No one can answer whether you should quit, that’s a decision for you to make. If it’s worrying you to the point that your performance could be affected then tread carefully. I don’t think you can be judged. Your a nurse but your still human, still a mother, still a wife.

Go with your gut! It’s you that lives with your decisions and no one else!

The soldier analogy is ridiculous. Nobody signs up to nursing believing that they are going to be asked to give their lives or their loved ones' lives for their country.

It would be wrong of me to encourage you to quit, OP, but it would also be wrong of me to try to guilt you into staying.

@QueenofmyPrinces - it’s just another example of nurses being expected to put ourselves at risk because “that’s what nurses do” and if we aren’t happy to do it then we weren’t cut out to be nurses in the first place apparently.

Genuine question - would you be supportive if ALL nurses resigning en masse tomorrow? If not, who should stay and who should be allowed to go?

Doggybiccys - You hit the nail on the head. This is exactly the reason why I have joined the emergency RN register. I don't want to do it, I'm petrified but at the end of the day the one thing that kept coming into my mind was how I would feel if it was my dh lying there gasping for breath ( he is severely asthmatic) and there was no-one to care for him or comfort him or what if it was my elderly dad or one of my teenagers. It is going to be hard and I desperately just want to stay in my home office doing phone advice but at the end of the day lives are at stake.

@Coyoacan - that’s true. But our code dies say we prioritise people and put the safety of the public first. It doesn’t say take the money, the great Ts and Cs, the 6 months sick pay, the 7 weeks holiday but bale out when the country is facing one of its biggest health challenges ever.

I'm sure many in your shoes have the same sentiments and the govt must be aware that frontline staff may refuse if they judge the risk to be too great?

OP I think people just get scared at the idea that every single nurse could walk out tomorrow and our families would be screwed. Its selfish really but I suppose that is the point of nurses, helping sick families, having medical knowledge that lots dont and saving peoples lives. I couldn't do it myself so who am I to judge.

So I wouldn't base my decision on what other people might say is what I'm trying to get at.

Genuine question - would you be supportive if ALL nurses resigning en masse tomorrow? If not, who should stay and who should be allowed to go?

I wouldn’t blame a single one of them for wanting to do it. Nobody but hospital workers understand what it’s like to be frontline at the moment.

I’ve been a nurse for about 13 years and loved every minute of it (bar the odd tough times obviously) but now I feel nothing but dread. I feel like a sitting duck. I feel like nurses/doctors are seen as collateral damage and we just have to get on with it and hope we come out of it okay.

Some of my colleagues are terrified, their anxiety is through the roof but nobody cares how we feel. We just have to carry on and hope for the best.

It’s a really unfair and shit position to be in

ScissorsBike but young healthcare workers ARE dying. Evidence suggests that when initial exposure is greater, the severity of the infection is greater and the symptoms are worse. So HCW are at greater risk of becoming more seriously ill.

Doggybiccys & Babyroobs - for you, for everything that you do. Sending you a (virtual) hug.

If you want to leave and you can live on one wage, or find a different job then leave.

I don't know what you want anyone else to say really.

If everyone begs you to stay, it's not going to change how you feel or reduce the risk is it?

Queen I have read your post but not any of the responses. Do what you and your husband think is right for your family. Nothing more, nothing less.

@Babyroobs- I could have refused the move from education to front line as I have a high risk condition that doesn’t warrant shielding. My DH is very front line / acute/ hands on. I simply couldn’t turn my back in a time of crisis and look him and my DC in the eye. Again I ask all those saying “just leave” - really, what if all nurses do this? Who do you think will keep you alive??

Very hard to say Op, I want to go back & become a paramedic. I wish I’d of done it before now. If I had, I wouldn’t be able to walk away.

Ask yourself, if you walked away could you do this without a guilty conscience?

@QueenofmyPrinces- yes, it is shit and unfair. But you’ve not answered my question about who will look after the sick if all nurses do what you want to do and leave?

I don’t know what to say.

The lack of PPE is appalling and yeah I understand your dilemma very well.

On the other hand people will die if a significant number of nurses quit.

It’s your personal decision really.

If you leave they'll get the army in to help. Who are trained to face death.

You shouldn't be guilt tripped into staying. The system will go on without you. If necessary with the army.

I would leave if I were you. No notice but expect no more pay. You'll be fine.

I feel like nurses/doctors are seen as collateral damage and we just have to get on with it and hope we come out of it okay.

I'd say if that applies to anyone at the moment it's supermarket staff.

They're mostly on minimum wage and didn't sign up to work with sick and infected people. Although the risk was always there, it was never a risk like this one.

Both NHS staff and supermarket workers have to hope they come out of it OK.