Want to leave nursing, but what can I do instead?

[Lindor2828]

I'm desperate to leave nursing but I just don't know what to do instead. Has anyone else left nursing for another career or retrained? I don't want to take a huge drop in pay, I earn just over £31k before pro rata now. What other roles earn similar? Feel totally stuck in a rut and want to love going to work!

@Lindor2828 i am the same its just not what it used to be anymore and morale has definitely dropped. Overworked and understaffed. Maby start a thread asking people what it is they do? Might give some out of the box ideas. I have no idea myself thought of some cash in hand jobs, maybe even childminding. Dont want to have to waste years in university retraining. My partner is a quantity surveyor, no degrees, he got on the job training and makes good money. I guess it depends what it is you enjoy

I did nursing, I'm now a swimming teacher I love it.

I'm in the same boat. It's so hard to find something with an equivalent pay but less emotionally draining.
Keen to hear what others have done.

There are very few jobs that you can jump in at £30k without any experience.

You could look into opportunities within the Pharmaceutical Industry though.

I'm not sure if it still exists but when I was a Pharmaceutical Sales Manager we used to have a team of nurses that ran various projects.

As an example my team sold a Urology drug. Our company had a team of nurses that ran ad hoc urinary flow clinics in GP surgeries.

I think Medical Devices companies also used to employ nurses.

The pay used to be good but I left nearly 20 years ago. Some of my reps were on £30k plus back then.

Might be worth a look.

I posted this on a similar thread just now:

Probation officer. You could begin as a Probation Service Officer (PSO) then apply for the in-house training programme to complete the PQuip and become a Probation Officer (PO).

Alternatively, watch out for the external PQuip recruitment campaign and join the training straight off.

PSOs begin on around £23/24k.
Qualified POs begin on around £30k

Interesting and varied. Never a dull day and there can be job satisfaction to be had with the wins. Also an incredibly challenging role and you need internal resilience on many levels, along with ability to be very adaptable.

The service is short staffed at the mo which puts pressure on the front line (which service isn't though!) but overall I would recommend it as a good employer and place to work

Also if you can face staying in nursing but changing the setting then perhaps consider school nursing, or checking local civil service jobs, as I've seen nursing roles advertised with the MoD which would likely be very different to working in an NHS setting...?

I want to leave too.

I just can't see how it's going to get any better any time soon.

I'd love to teach but unfortunately I haven't got the right qualifications. I really wish I'd got a degree instead of a diploma.

I'm exactly the same, I think there are a lot of us.

It depends really whether you'd be happy to stay in nursing/healthcare but in a different role and different environment or whether you'd rather something completely different. Realistically even though you will have tonnes of transferable skills it will be challenging to go into a job at £30k straightaway. Do you think you'd enjoy getting into tech? The dept of education is currently funding 12 week bootcamps in things like Web development and you don't need any experience. They help build a portfolio and find a job too, it's delivered through universities remotely.

Our company is big enough to have an occupational health nurse, have you considered something like that?

Occupational therapist? Speech therapist?

Cosmetic injectables - Botox/fillers etc?

I posted on a similar thread earlier. So sad so many of us want to leave nursing. I earn similar to you, I don't want to take a pay cut but where can we go where we can earn £30k + straight away.

in the same boat here. Just wanted to give this thread a wee boost to see if there were any new ideas

Same here, its awful. We're all having panic attacks at what we are walking into.

I've joined a nursing agency to do a few shifts a month to top up income but off to train in complimentary therapies.

So sad the situation at the moment

Friends who have left nhs nursing posts for something they’ve found better :

• prison nurse


• nutrison nurse specialist


• Baxter product specialist nurse


• permanent agency


• aesthetics


• school nurse


• home palliative care nurse


• childrens hospice nurse (adult trained)


• australia


• epilepsy CNS (still finds it’s stressful but better than bedside b5)

I also know someone who retrained as a podiatrist and has own practice and prefers it.