Resigning as a nurse

[JEB123]

Hi. After 27 years, I have exhausted all my options! I can’t cope with the pressures anymore, I’m so unhappy and want to take a step back from it all. I had a depressive episode in 2014 which stripped my confidence and left me with anxiety, which i’m sure was the job. I had a 6 month break from nursing and decided to try again! I have had 3 jobs since and fail to settle in all of them. I was in a post 10 years prior to the breakdown, which I loved, but the culture became and still is toxic. I hate the thought of going to work and my mood slides. Has anyone ever given up their pin and become a home carer instead? Advise please will be very welcome.

[Girlintheframe]

I gave up nursing following a mental health crisis. Years later I have returned as an HCA and tbh I love it. All the parts I enjoyed about nursing without the continual stress/responsibilities/pressures. Pay is obviously much lower but to me it's worth it to not feel constantly stress/like I'm failing

[FormerlyFrikadela01]

if you can find the right place. I'm earing top band 5 rate of pay and now only work part time.

I think part of the problem is people feel trapped in the NHS because of the pension and other benefits.

If I left the NHS it would be to leave nursing altogether... I know I can find good pay in the private sector but I've yet to come across any organisation with comparable benefits (cygnets selling point of always having your birthday off pales when you look at their sickness and maternity policies).

nowayhose sounds like you've had a well shitty time of it. And sadly I do suspect that many of the problems you describe are common in many places.

[nowayhose]

I used to be a band 6, back in the days when you were actually valued and progression perfectly possible. Where I worked a sense of teamwork and mutual support was given to any staff or student who came through the door. We supported each other ( doesn't mean we were all great friends, but we respected each other). I was about to be promoted to be one of the first nurse practitioners in the country when I had to leave my job due to family circumstances.

I always wanted to return to nursing but couldn't see how it would be possible as a single mum and a lapsed registration.

Fast forward to now, I regained my registration through the return to nursing course and began working in an acute area (after 12 years out) in a different hospital.

From day one back in nurse uniform I have been expected to perform well beyond the parameters of my current training e.g in acute resuscitation situations (not as one off's) with only Basic Life Support training. Holding a bleep as an emergency responder etc.

When I complained and asked for further training I was made to feel as if I had failed somehow.

I have been bullied and harassed by senior staff (publicly, and in close proximity to senior manager and patient), with absolutely no repercussions for the bullies ( I heard them laughing with the manager afterwards about the incident.)

I am told I am doing things wrong every day (and I am not doing things 'wrongly', I'm just doing them as I have been told to by other staff members).

I have been either micro managed or left totally to my own devices, depending on who I am working with.( and by that I mean I have been left with trying to deal with potentially critically unwell patients without so much as a hcsw or student to help me)

At every single handover the staff coming on shift totally bitch about the ones going off shift, saying they've been lazy or done something wrong. The general gist is that absolutely no-one likes anyone else and there is zero respect for anyone at all ! It's truly horrible.

I am currently off sick due to anxiety and am to see Occupational Health as my 'manager' wants me to leave as apparently I am 'always sick' !

No bloody surprise there !!!!

I'm told it's the same in every part of my area's NHS.

I cannot wait to get out of nursing as it's truly toxic and governed by uncaring management and run by the under trained staff .

I think I can safely say that no amount of 'return' courses or foreign imports for staff will help the ailing NHS, as they do not pay anywhere near enough wages nor employ enough staff numbers for the graduates they employ to do the volume and quality of care demanded. Couple the lack of decent wages with the toxicity and lack of support, no wonder staff are leaving in their droves !

[Troels]

I left the NHS nearly 3 years ago, before that I had a great job abroad doing district nursing.
The NHS nearly broke me. I've been a nurse since 1982 and never thought I'd ever prefer to crash on the way to work so I didn't have to go in.
I had to get out. I ended up in an EMI Nursing home and love it another place I never thought I'd be able to cope with
We have now started the hiring process of an RMN who has had a fantastic career but totally burned out to the point he quit, and went to an agency to work as a carer. He's enjoyed iit for the last 6 months or so. But after coming to our home as a carer a few times he has applied to come back as an RMN. It's a lot less stress, not stressless, if you can find the right place. I'm earing top band 5 rate of pay and now only work part time.

[SnuggyBuggy]

I think you have to try and work out if you can make it better or if it's inevitable that it's going to be awful or not even awful but just not work for you.

[Coldhandscoldheart]

Thanks @SnuggyBuggy. That’s one of the options I’m considering, although I admit, I’ll struggle with giving up my wage and pension I think.
I’m trying to see a way forward for my current job that doesn’t involve me having a nervous breakdown.

[SnuggyBuggy]

I'm a SAHM at the moment. Even before I became pregnant I was contemplating escape. I was in the admin side and thought I'd want to look at progression in time but the pay doesn't increase nearly so fast as the stress. My bosses have all been such unhappy people constantly going off sick and its just put me right off to be honest.

Not really sure what I want out of my working life now, it's honestly all felt like a waste of time. I think realistically I'd like to look for something with better working conditions and more flexibility even if the pay isn't any better. My old job just wasn't worth making any sacrifices over.

[Coldhandscoldheart]

What do you do now @SnuggyBuggy?

[SnuggyBuggy]

As an Ex-NHS worker I feel for you guys, nursing is such an important job and it seems like nurses are treated like dirt by management.

[Stopyourhavering64]

I've been nursing 32 yrs and also seriously considering giving up- however ds still has 2 yrs left at Uni and dh is self employed
Been in research for past 12 years and changes in management structure have seen morale hit rock bottom and many staff leaving.
There's no career development, poor ie non existent training and unrealistic recruitment targets to be met...I'm in the job to improve patient outcomes and develop new treatments but feel so undervalued by senior ( non nursing) management who really have no idea what the job entails or the knowledge I possess ...I feel the experience I have is not recognised or valued . If colleagues leave the post is advertised at lower band to save money . Wish I'd left nursing years ago

[Coldhandscoldheart]

Am also following with interest, although I know I couldn’t transfer into caring, I have wondered about going back to the wards, but you’ve reminded me why that might not be a good idea!

Am currently trying to consider what jobs might not involve working with the general public tbh.

[aabidah86]

@tartan333 @formerlyfrikadela01 I'm actually glad to hear its not just me whose struggling and had enough!

[FormerlyFrikadela01]

Band 6 community posts in my trust are becoming a novelty. Everytime someone retires out of a post it gets downgraded to band 5. The caseloads are astronomical.
I'm lucky, I got one of the rare as hens teeth band 6 clinical posts on a forensic ward. I love my job but everyday I see the price we have to pay for the underfunding (especially in mental health) of the NhS and I'm knackered all the damn time.

If I ever leave nursing I doubt I will stay in healthcare. Even our support workers are running on fumes and are having to pick up more and more responsibilities with no extra pay.

[Tartan333]

aabidah86 Yes I'm a band 5 too and community nurses used to start on band 6. Even though I am experienced in nursing on wards, I feel inexperienced on community, isolated and expected to have knowledge of everything. I still enjoy the time I get to spend with patients and have the desire to make their lives better but most of my time seems to be spent chairing care co ordination meetings. I am very unhappy and want out.

[aabidah86]

@tartan333 i am also mental health and band 5 in community. Our Trust never used to take band 5 in community, only band 6, but yep retention issues forced the change! I feel way in over my head. A band 6 social worker is on long term sick and everyone has had to pick up their caseload. I'm trying to do commissioning of care which I've no clue about. The managers and senior pracs are all new and from forensic or CAMHS so have no idea about our service and can't offer help. Everyone is in and out of the office on back to back visits so hardly anyone around to ask for help. I feel so so isolated and inexperienced.

[Tartan333]

I am in mental health and have moved from ward to community fairly recently. I thought it was less stressful initially but then the workload ramped up and I find myself just as stressed as on a ward and feel like I have such a heavy weight on my shoulders. I am looking for care/support work, will just have to take a financial hit.
I am also seeing younger staff move up the ladder quickly due to retention issues.

[aabidah86]

Couple with that the retention rates are terrible so newly qualified staff move up the bands quicker than they would have a few years ago. Leads to an inexperienced and burnt out workforce.

[aabidah86]

Something really needs to give with the profession, the pay is poor compared to other graduate and postgraduate jobs, the revalidation process is onerous, and I often find myself spending hours filling in paperwork that is of absolutely no benefit to the patient rather it just makes us easier to audit.

[Otterseatpuffinsdontthey]

q

[Namenic]

Terrible. Nurse Amaro and Dr bawa garba were forced into situations where they had to do unsafe care because management didn’t give them other options. Maybe ask unions what exactly you should do if you are faced with an unsafe scenario? Bma are useless as they abandoned Chris day when he complained. MPs should legislate for minimum staffing. But yeah - I wouldn’t work for a hospital who did that to me crosser.

[Babyroobs]

crosser - It was one of these nightshifts that prompted me to hand my notice in finally. I had numerous terminally ill patients climbing out of bed, patients waiting for pain relief, patients at risk of falling, a patient who took four staff to move, IV antibiotics given late etc. I just had had enough and quit.

[crosser62]

Same here.
30 years nursing and I am overwhelmed and feel trapped.

If I don’t give up my PIN is at risk on a day by day basis anyway due to the work conditions I am forced into.

I finish every shift worried about what I will be in trouble for, what incidents will be submitted about me, what will I be dragged into the office about when I’m next in.

My record is completely unblemished by the way. My sick days can be counted on one hand for those 30 years too.

Bullied out of my dream job after 23 years by a new manager. Now being bullied out of another.

I went to work at my regular (2nd job as the 1st pay is so poor) the other night and was moved to a ward. Even though it’s been over 20 years since I’ve worked on a medical ward...given a bunch of Keys and told to crack on.
Giving unfamiliar drugs..with the bnf in one hand, giving controlled drugs, restricted drugs and doing obs as none of the hcas are obs trained.
Iv Antibiotics due at 10pm given at 2am because I just couldn’t get to do them...incident report worthy.
There were wanderers and climbers, some very poorly patients.
Myself and an agency nurse on a 28 bedded medical ward.
None of us had been on that ward before.
Matron told of my anxieties and inability to deliver safe and timely care... not in the least bit interested. I was told that there was absolutely no one else anywhere to work that ward so I had to carry on.

So. I cannot sleep for worrying to death about it.

I’m applying for jobs out of nursing.

I’ve had enough.

[Babyroobs]

I am about to give up my PIN after 30 years of Nursing. Like you I just couldn't stand the stress of it all. For the past two years I have been doing a different career but still doing some bank nursing but then last April I gave up the bank Nursing altogether. I have had an episode of depression recently and I honestly think it is just the stress of 30 years of dealing with horrendous situations and the long term anxiety this has caused. If my new career doesn't work out then I will just do care work or something until I retire. I am in my early fifties. I feel sad that it's the end of an era but then again the thought of ever nursing again fills me with horror so I now I'm doing the right thing !! Good luck in escaping.

[JEB123]

Hi guys. I’m ward based, I was community up until 5 years ago, therein started my problems, when management changed. I think I’d still be there otherwise.
I’ve spoken to my manager since posting, to have a meeting with him, try and iron some stuff out, including shift patterns.
I have all the feelings each one of describe.
Troysmammy, Practise nursing really isn’t for me I’m afraid, but thank you.
Aabidah86, it’s really hard isn’t it to say no? but you need to work to your competence, no matter what pressure they put on you. With all the pressures of the job it’s difficult to say no, I can see why NMC cases are increasing, but the culture in the job creates the risks we are having to face.

[aabidah86]

@swishyswash yes completely agree, the lack of leadership is appalling. I work in the community and feel totally unsupported and lacking in knowledge. Whenever i have to do something I've never done before there's no document to go to for guidelines, the managers have no clue because they're all new, so you end up scraping around asking other staff and googling! I hate it and feel completely rudderless. I hate not knowing what I'm doing, which adds to my anxiety of worrying I'm going to f*ck up at some point.