Leave 9-5 for shift work

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Currently work as a community nurse doing 9-5 3 days a week, weekends/bank holidays off. I've been doing this for around 7 years. I hate driving in rush hour and it's a care coordinator role so I am mainly the sole person seeing my caseload.

I've just been approached by a past colleague about returning to inpatient working. This would mean shifts/weekends/bank holidays/Christmas.

I have 1DC in school and 1DC in nursery not in receipt of funded hours yet. DH wfh FT so shift work not an issue with the eldest DC as he can do school runs (already does them the 3 set days I work). Tricky thing is managing youngest DC nursery with shift work.

Pros: no rush hour commute, not being sole person responsible for patients care, more active work day, unsociable hours pay.

Cons: Potentially increased nursery costs if can't get flexible childcare. Weekends/nights/Christmas working. Missing family time whilst DC are young and keen to be around us.

Would I be silly to give up 'desirable' work pattern for shifts again?
What would others do? Those doing shift work with young children how do you manage it? I moved to 9-5 just before having DC1 so never had to manage it.

Do you have to pay to park at the new job ? Are there plenty of spaces ?
How do you feel about working Xmas day ?
Personally I will never go back to a hospital or shifts.

Free parking and enough space to park.
Christmas is the one con I struggle with the most.

Ive moved from shift work to flexi office hours, I worked in retail.
Honestly theres no way I'd go back, theres a big disruption to your home/family life and constanlty working different shifts left be burnt out in the end ...... plus I hated working weekends when my family were all off out doing fun things....and working over Christmas is another level of crap!

I've worked shifts my entire working life up until my youngest was 3YO and eldest was 5YO. IME it is infinitely easier to work Monday-Friday 9-5 with school age kids.

How many weekends would you be expected to work? How many would you actually work? Is there any on call etc? What about nights etc? Have a long hard think about school holidays. What will you do about childcare then? Every job I had was an absolute bun fight over Christmas and Summer holidays. There would be names pulled out of a hat and you never knew if you had the leave until the week before. I now work in a job that let's you book two whole weeks off at Christmas in January.

I don't think I could ever go back now TBH.

Is it 12 hour shifts? So you would be changing from 3 days 9-5 to two 12 hr shifts. That might be worth considering tbh.

I think it would be 3 7.5hr shifts. It would be a deputy ward manager role so not sure they'd be keen on just 2 days a week.

The manager has offered me to go in for a chat so I think I should do that and ask a lot of the questions above.
I remember when I did inpatient nursing before I'd do 3-4 weekends in a row when the rule was meant to be 2 weekends in 4.
I also remember a lot of night shifts ending and back to a early or long day the next day.

I get quite anxious driving in rush hour traffic and I'm wondering if that might be making me reflect on past shift work with rose tinted glasses.

I've worked shift work for 37 in different jobs apart from a 9/5 job for 2 years.
I had 2 children so all they've e er known is me doing that type of work. I love it and wouldnt go back to 9/5.
Dh worked full time. We had a childminder. We could drop off any ti.evadter 7am and pick up by 6pm. I loved having days off in the week, late starts or eay finishes. I liked going to places like the Trafford centre on a say, Wednesday morning when it was empty as opposed to Saturday afternoon. I seemed to have more time to fo things rather than come home in the evening make tea help with homework and get the kids bathed and into bed.
I never worked a Christmas day up until the last few years ( my lads have left home) we ( staff) worked it out between us. Those that had young children wanted it off and those that didnt tended to do New Year ( you had to pick one)
Even if you do work Christmas day it is unlikely it will be every hour, you will make your own way of making it work. I now offer to do the middle shift- lazy morning, a few hours in work and home for the evening with the meal ready for me.
Your biggest adva6is your husband d having fixed hours. I know couples with young children trying to juggle shifts and childcare and it's a nightmare.

3 x 7.5 doesnt sound too bad but id want to know the shift rota etc, you dont want to end up with all weekends!

Personally I wouldn't with young children as you will be missing weekends, bank holiday etc with them. I did shift work for a few years but household runs better with a sensible and regular work pattern.

Have you considered a different community trust? I'm a district nurse and in my trust we work shifts between the hours of 7am to 10pm over 7 days a week. There are a variety of hours - standard 7.5hrs so 7-3, 8-4, 10-6, 2-10pm or you can do longer days 8-6, 12-10pm. Some staff with special requests work really long days so 7-10pm but this request can be dependent on the particular team being able to facilitate it as per how well they are staffed - but it does happen. This does include regular weekend working, twilights (2-10) and bank holidays/Christmas.

I think you have to look at what's most important to you? Family and flexibility vrs the ties of the hospital role. I know you said you are the only person seeing your patients but you didn't say if you actually enjoy the role? How stressful would the new role be vrs the commute at rush hour?

Personally for me id stick where you are, you know what you are getting already and it doesn't sound that bad. I was a District nurse for 15 years and also did x3 9-5 days when my dc were young which worked very well. I now have a ACP community post and do x3 long days 8am - 9pm. No way on this planet would I ever consider a hospital role especially management the stress would be horrendous not to mention the crap hours.

Parts of the role I enjoy. I'm a CPN and pressures have increased immensely since the pandemic, as with a lot of other roles. I hold so much risk and often look back at inpatient days with envy as the whole team held the risk. Obviously there is an MDT to discuss things with but it's not the same in the community when you have so much more autonomy.

In all honesty I'm questioning whether nursing is for me anymore but feel stuck in that place where I need to earn what I do to make ends meet and leaving nursing for something else just wouldn't match that without retraining or gaining experience over a number of years.

I don't want to regret missing out on the children when they are young.

I’m doing 9-5 after 20 years doing shifts.

Im still on a ward though, it’s more than the change to shift working, it’s the return to ward work as well.

Inpatient care has its benefits in that you hand the caseload over, they become the next shifts responsibility. You also get more money for weekend and bank holiday working.

Downsides are you don’t get to go home if next shift are late or don’t arrive, weekend and Christmas working and it’s a fast pace on most wards with high risk patients.

Its never an easy decision. Our trust does long days and on balance I prefer working 3 long days to 9-5 but I think I’m institutionalised by years of shift work🤣

I do 2 11.5 hour nights a week. I think I'm the only person I know who is able to work and have the kids at home 95% of the time. We self roster. I only have childcare 2 hours a week so it works for me and I get to do every drop off and pick up from school and have my 2yo at home full time. I am however exhausted 95% of the time.

I'm adult trained so not sure about the MH side but my friend went from community to surgical and really struggled with the change of pace even though she is an excellent experienced nurse. It took her a full year to feel settled back in the ward setting.

Also, you need to remember it’s a employee’s market so there may well be scope to negotiate a fixed roster.

I have done that with some of the nurses on my ward and frankly would consider any pattern if someone wanted to work on my ward🤣 Things are that desperate, so you could make it work to your advantage.

Oh also have you tried doing any agency work if you are getting burnt out? We have senior RMNs sitting with patients overnight in acute medicine and it's 1-1, you hand them over in the morning and never have to worry about them again, you do their obs and speak to them all night we worry about any IVs/other medical concerns. You have a team to come immediately if they kick off. 9/10 they settle and sleep overnight but obviously the other 1/10 you are the one who is restraint trained and will be doing the hard job. £48.50 an hour at the weekends!

Place marking.

I am actively looking to move away from shift work. Over 50% of my hours are after 6pm or weekends and I hate it. Can't wait to finish shifts