Decided to leave healthcare for good - which jobs are less stressful?

[NeedIdeas2026]

Name changed for this. Ruined my own Christmas holidays panicking about going back to work. Since qualifying as a health care professional (OT) all I have done is jump from stressful role to stressful role. The penny has dropped that it's the area of work and I no longer want to work in a clinical person facing role. I have children who really need me right now and I'm struggling to be present for them. The needs and demands of other families are never ending. I struggle with anxiety anyway and I've came to the conclusion that I need a completely different role before I burn out (already had to take time off for stress and insomnia this year). I've tried counselling and meds - it's the job that needs to change. If you have a less stressful and I'm guessing less peopley job - what is it? Particularly keen to hear from people who have left similar roles. Thank you x

I left a wonderful, but fairly stressful job in maternity care to become a Parish Council Clerk earlier this year. I work from home, the hours are very flexible so perfect to accommodate family/childcare arrangements, the only commitment is the council meeting one evening a month. It is also a very public facing role, as being the Council’s Proper Officer and RFO means you are often the main point of contact when liaising with the public about community issues. It’s a very varied but fulfilling role, and there are opportunities to undertake further qualifications for career progression.

This sounds wonderful! How do you find these type of roles and did you find that healthcare experience brought enough transferable skills that you were able to make the leap ok? X

Bump. Have a major case of the Sunday scaries x

Most Parish Clerk jobs are advertised on the region/county’s local council association website (I’m from Bedfordshire, so ours is the Bedfordshire Association of Town and Parish Councils). Some will also be advertised nationally, on the SLCC or NALC websites.

In terms of experience, yea definitely. Having the ability to liaise with members of the public, diffuse tense situations and maintain confidence with handling public queries and community issues is really important 🙂

Private OT work in the community might be worth considering. My colleague works on the bank in hospital very part time and also in the community in a little cottage hospital supporting older people remotely. It’s not stressful at all but maybe a bit slow.

Following with interest OP because I’m in the same boat. I’m a social worker, but I’m at very high risk of burning out. I have anxiety, compassion fatigue and I also don’t want to do it anymore and keen for a change of role.

I told my DP I just want a job where I literally work 9-5, then switch off and don’t have to carry the weight and responsibility of the world in my shoulders like he does (interpreter and translator). I’d recommend his job if you speak any other languages (sadly my second language is nowhere beer good enough).

you might find this website helpful it has a skills assessment that can then suggest some possible careers

https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/

Thank you I will definitely look in to this. Has it been a big change in salary for you? X

As in through a private OT agency? X

No languages here bar rusty GCSE french! Oh I can do relate to your post - I just want a job where I can leave work at work! X

I work in the NHS too in a clinical role and feel exactly the same but have no idea what I should look at doing. I tried doing the career quiz on the gov website and it helpfully told me healthcare... I'd still keep my registration doing the minimum amount of hours but I want something with routine.

I left Nursing after 35 years to become a benefits advisor. Obviously the pay is worse ( although not hugely so ) but I work for a charity and basically go round visiting older people filling out disability benefit forms, referring them for OT assessments, a bit of advice on social care/ paying for care etc. A bit of basic medical knowledge helps with the form filling. I organize my own work schedule and plan my visits. It can be difficult at times if people are distressed or home circumstances are dire but most of the time it's just lovely older people chatting about their health challenges !

I'm at the point where I'll happily give up my registration, I just want out x

I really like this idea. Do the charities provide any specialist training for these types of roles? X

I left a high pressured clinical manager role, 2 years ago. I was burnt out trying to manage a really overwhelmed service with staffing issues. I took an easy non clinical non nhs job.

Within 6 months i was actually bored and everyone in the new role worried about stuff that wasnt important and actually really boring.

I left in the end and went back to the nhs in a strategic role.

Im much happier now. Im using my skills, no on calls and i close my laptop at 5pm and forget about work.

You could use your skills in non patient facing roles out of the NHS.
Manual handling trainer for care agencies. Advisor or Advocacy roles with charities.
But it depends whether you want more of a back office job
completely away from dealing with the public

The disability forms are fairly easy to navigate as are designed for people to fill in themselves anyway. I had training on the more complex benefits advice. The charity I work for offers training but like to hire people with a health care or social care background. The social / people skills are just as important really as the benefits knowledge. The only downside is that jobs are often for a fixed period so dependent on funding.

@NeedIdeas2026Yes, it’s been a significant increase - I’m now earning the same hourly rate as an upper tier Band 6. Also, larger Parish and Town Councils will likely pay a lot more, especially if the Clerk is CiLCA qualified.

I'm an OT and run my own practice and choose my own hours, around my children. Might that be an option? x

Can I ask what type of roles or titles I should search for? Shutting the laptop at 5pm is the dream!!!

I think probably more back office if I'm honest - advisory maybe ok though as long as not as stressful - I'm not in a physical OT role - think more mental health/neuro so I would be hopeless at manual handling 😁

This sounds good. Would you be comfortable PM-ing me the charity name?

What's CilCA? I'll take a look for these types of jobs thank you! Currently a band 7 but happy to take a pay cut I just want to be happy and well

Potentially yes - is it difficult to build up a client base? Any tips for starting up? X

I am going to go really left field but have you tried inputting your skills, experience and interests into ChatGPT? You will need to make sure you do this as a temporary chat and anonymise/depersonalise it?

My friend did this when she was looking to move from a SaLT role into something different and it (a) gave her a load of feedback on what her strengths were and (b) dug out some roles/types of roles for her where her skills would be transferrable.

It won't change your life, but it was interesting to see the outputs and she said it gave her food for thought. When she showed me I was quite impressed 😄. It was like a career coach and a lot more informative than using LinkedIn!