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’ve shipped my children out @QueenofmyPrinces
They have somewhere to go and it felt like the safest way. I can’t bare that I might bring something home.
Do what you feel is best. We’re all scared, we are human.

It's nowhere near the same. And shops are now closed, essential food shops have 2 m lines. The shops need to crowd control and protect staff. People are so selfish.

Talk is cheap, I'm not going to argue, we have had public support, online bullying of nhs staff who are vulnerable right now is not acceptable.

I would be leaving if it was my job, definitely.
You need to protect yourself to be there for your family.
We aren't all heroes and that's fine, be kind to yourself, and your dh is lovely, I know mine would say the same.

We don't wear masks either. So not sure why shop assistants would.

Just leave it now it's not really fair to argue when you don't know the situation and we are on it.

No I won't leave it now.

Supermarket workers are also at huge risk. Whether the 100s of people they're coming into contact with are 'heavily infected' or 'just' infected without knowing it, puts them at a huge risk of catching it.

And for someone who's not going to argue, you're doing a good job of it.

Anyway fir me I want to save lives and I want people to get better. It's a vocation not just a job. If I was to just leave there may be someone who does who I could have helped. There's not enough doctors and people will die. So it's simple for me.

Oh God, I'm sorry for posting all that negative stuff Dandy.

I just got pissed off for my brother and people like you.

I can't imagine how you must be feeling.

Turn off the videos. Please.

Dies

Nurse here. Not once in my training or almost 20 year career have I had any training on dealing with a situation like this. I'm an nhs nurse, not an army nurse out on the fields. We are not prepared and are terrified not only of the virus but the decisions that will soon be made about patients. When this is over I fear there will be a lot of hospital staff with new mental health issues trying to cope with what theyve been through. Theres also a lot of pressure being called a hero in a situation none of us have any idea what to do in

I can't believe people are comparing nurses to soldiers, implying that a risk to their own life was one they signed up for. Of course it wasn't. We've also had "well I hope you never need our help then" and of course, someone pointing out the wonderful Ts&Cs (paid sick leave! A reasonable holiday allowance!)

No one has the right to berate the OP for wanting to walk away from this and you should all be ashamed of yourselves for doing so.

OP you need to do what is best for you and your family. Stay safe

Though at the moment the picture is so bleak I'm not sure we are going to be able to save anywhere near as many as we would like.

If you had all the necessary equipment to keep you safe ie full on face masks, protective clothing etc then yes it’s not very nice if you to leave. The tax payers money funded you to pass that course and when times are hard then you’re going to leave? It’s a good job not everyone thought like you.

If you’re not fully protected then absolutely leave!

Bit like becoming a soldier then quitting when you see a war on the horizon

There are difficult decisions being talked about. It's going to be traumatic.

I stopped reading this thread after the first couple of disgraceful messages. Fed up with it.

@BubblyBarbara utter bullshit. No one alive today has experience of a global pandemic. Just quit with that bloody military comparisons.

It is nothing like being a soldier!!!

Am also frontline NHS. We are all terrified. Saw lots of COVID patients today - all hospitals are full of them, and we're all trying our best.

But actually, if we're well, even if we get it and spread it to our families (which we probably will), we'll be most likely all be fine, if we don't have anyone vulnerable at home. If you do, it's different.

But many of our patients really won't be fine unless we're there, as a team, to use our skills to help them. I'm not sure, unless we're unwell ourselves/others at home, that it's ethical right at the moment to make a choice to opt out.

Up for debate though.

We would all much prefer to and love to opt out though.

People are so incredibly selfish. Disgusting.

My first wife was a nurse back in 1979 when they were all on strike she normally a very quiet person, had a big argument on a picket line where she took on some Union leaders and hospital managers.

Her argument was that "My paitents are in there and as a nurse my duty is to them. I will not allow them to be abandoned!

OK maybe not quite the same as today but my god was I proud to be married to such a lady:)

Furthermore my DD2 is a nurse, works on a childrens ward, just because theres covid about they still need care some are in a bad way poor little souls.

Is she giving up on them?, is she fuck! Shes got two little ones of her own her partner is at present looking after them as hes now out of work.

I did ask her about what if anything happened?, she said he then be a single male parent.

And that - was that!

I'm to put it bluntly, totally humbled by her attiude:)

@dandymottahs

Don’t watch the videos. They make us more worried. There’s no certainty that they’re real and factual. Of the tens of thousands of people that have it and all that have died, there’s never any mention of children dying from it. It’s so rare unless they have underlying health conditions perhaps. It seems children don’t even have symptoms the majority of the time that’s how little it affects them!

There’s more chance of children dying from cancer as they can’t get treatment.

There’s always people that know this that and the other but statistically thank god for the only saving grace in this mess that children seem to be spared

Oh, give over with the 'tax-payer's money'. I think we get more than our money's worth from these notoriously poorly-remunerated, hard-working professionals... WHO ARE ALSO TAX PAYERS.

OP, you've had some shitty comments here. I wouldn't blame you in the slightest for wanting to safeguard your family in these exceptional circumstances. That is no reflection on your suitability for the profession, just human instinct. Nurses are not trained to 'face death', like soldiers. You can't catch cancer or a traffic collision.

Thank you @Potkettlexx

And people can be unnecessarily unpleasant.

At the end of the day, doesn't matter what job you do, you do it to pay the bills & put food on the table, it isn't worth risking mental & physical health for if you don't have to. Don't feel guilty if you decide to walk away.