How has community based nursing services been affected by COVID? Change in career.

[Candlealmond]

Hi there

Looking for some inside sort of info or guidance. I’m looking to work alongside NHS community Health Visitors as a change in career (early years).

I see so many posts of people quitting and leaving the NHS and just want to know if this is the same in the community side of things too?

What’s the most demanding or challenging element working in community nursing? And also the NHS in general.

Thanks

In my experience people tend to stick at community jobs alot more than ward jobs .I don't work for the NHS anymore I left for health reasons. The staff I know that left all seemed to leave for jobs with better hours pay and that were more family friendly hours.
It really all depends on your manager some are great some arnt but that apply to any job.

I was an NNU nurse for several years before transferring to community two years ago. I was offered a Community Nurse post for either Health Visiting or School Nursing - although my skills were better suited to HV, I took the SN post to try something new and really enjoyed it! I have just finished my SCPHN so am now a School Nurse although work in same team as HVs. All areas will work slightly differently - there have been multiple team changes/structure changes since I started.

Is the job to work as a community nurse or as a support worker?

I love the job - it’s fast paced, it’s challenging and it’s a different kind of job satisfaction. My role involves a lot of safeguarding. For any role within HVSN nursing you need to be able to organise your day very effectively and have a bit of a thick skin.

I have seen some people leave as most services across the country are incredibly stretched and the pressure is intense. It can be hard to switch off when you’re off on leave. It can also be challenging with a lot of teams working from home when not out on visits - you don’t get the kind of unofficial supervision that you would get when you’re in and out of an office. Also, as the previous poster said, it’s very heavily based on the effectiveness of your team supervisor as to how cohesively the team runs.

However - the hours are much more family friendly (I can often do school drop off and pick up as I work in the same area that I live in) and I manage to work full time as a single parent with no support from their dad/limited practical family support due to their own jobs.

I'm a school nurse based in the community and share a worksppace with the health visitors.The health visitors have much higher caseloads and a more stressful working day in my opinion.I love school nursing It's so varied.A combination of tier 1 mental health,safeguarding,care for looked after children and supporting families and schools.Biggest change is we can now work with families by video link and no longer have to travel for meetings/training which is great.I manage my own diary and I'm busy but it's nothing like being on a ward.Very flexible hours which is unheard of in nursing Stressful at times and I have many difficult conversations but that's nursing.