I’m a nurse working on a ward, I have been qualified just over a year and feel stressed and exhausted constantly. I have never struggled with mental health but I now struggle sleeping, I’m losing weight and feel down all the time. I used to be a receptionist before deciding to do my nursing degree and wish I never made that choice. If I could turn back time I would choose literally any other degree. I’m still young only 24 so currently looking for any graduate schemes. It’s so sad, I am all for the strike however whatever pay rise they offer simply won’t magic more nurses into the system which is what we need. I’m not surprised nobody wants to do it.
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There are lots of roles outside of the nhs which would value your degree, the good thing is you can always return one day if things pick up. Don't jeopardise your health for a job. Heartbreaking though isn't it.
Get off the wards ASAP. Figure out what you want to specialise in and do that instead. I did. My mental health improved 1000%
I work in an outpatient day case unit now. No nights and the unit closes at 6pm. On call on weekends on a rota basis. It's busy so the day goes by really quickly, but hardly any stress. I'm very lucky. And there's so much to learn about the speciality I work in as well so I'm not bored. It took me several job changes to get here but there is a job out there for you. You have to remember why you chose nursing in the first place.
If I knew what nursing was really like I'd never have chosen it for a career though. I've been qualified 8 years now and it's never too late for a career change they say, but it's easier said than done when you're paying high rent, have dependents and a stable income.
I get this. I just don’t know what the answer is. They deserve the money but I can’t see the government budging on it sadly.
I hope I’m wrong!
Lots of love, I wish it wasn’t like this x
General medical wards are the kiss of death for anyones sanity or wellbeing
The whole model of care never used to be like this…older general medical patients died at the end of their natural lifespan with little intervention and nursing expertise was focused on specialised medical patients and elective surgical patients
The older medical cohort remained in community based care and nobody would have thought of ringing 999 for an 80 year old with a breathing problem
The problem is the unwillingness of folks to face up to mortality, a modicum of patient behaviour and a whole heap of entitlement etc
I support the strikes but not the 16%, I think that’s asking for far too much. 10 seems more reasonable.
I have to agree with you, based on my experience of death in my family. As a nation, we aren’t good at handling death at all. The prerogative seems to be to avoid it at all costs, instead of accepting that it’s an inevitability for all of us.
My grandma meant the world to me… I absolutely adored her. But she had rapid onset dementia following the death of my grandpa and was a lifelong smoker with COPD in her 80s… it was her time to go but it just seemed to be the only recourse was to call 999 when things seemed bad for her (a few years ago). We couldn’t stand by at watch her struggle to breath and get ill without doing something.
At the time I was in a better place emotionally/mentally to accept her death than other members of my family. She’d deteriorated so badly it was a relief when she died for me, because the cycle of hospital visits was honestly more traumatic and undignified for her. Hospitals should be for people who have a chance of getting better.
I wish the stress and trauma of her being taken in and out of hospital wasn’t a thing. I wish calling 999 wasn’t the only “option” for us a family. But we didn’t feel we had any other recourse.
I wish there had been some sort of support for us to manage her decline in a dignified way at home, instead of the ups and downs of getting sick -> hospital admission -> stable again -> sick and then that cycle until she died. Community based care would have been a saviour. Not just for my grandma but for my wider family. It would have been more peaceful.
Being in and out of hospital seemed like a sad end to an otherwise full and happy life.
Mentally, she had already left us. It was just her body clinging on and it felt like an utter waste of time and money and resources to keep her body alive at that point.
Maybe that sounds harsh but that’s how it felt to me. I guess it’s a whole can of ethical worms though.
that’s such an interesting point, but then I guess it just comes down to the health system not being equipped for an aging population (as is the case in many countries!) my FIL is 80- he’s on no medication, no underlying conditions, no ongoing medical treatment or Health conditions . Of course you’d call 999 if he had a breathing or similar emergency problem, it would come out of nowhere.
however, I can see for my grandparents generation (born in 1918) 80 years old looked very, very different.
I saw my husbands gran parents through similar and I was surprised at how open to, and positive about, their carers were about their deaths. A gentle home death had been advised about a year before my mil finally gave up and accepted it, but even so it was dignified and lovely when it happened. Incredible hospice workers came to sit with them and us and explained everything. It was very comforting to everyone
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They could well be willing to settle there. You don't put your final offer forward first. The government won't even negotiate.
I’m glad you had a better experience!
For all of my grandparents, it was in and out of hospital and gradual decline until they died (save for one grandparent who mercifully, had a stroke at home whilst asleep).
If the government won't even discuss then the next move must be to drop the percentage lower? Or is the next move strike til they give in? Neither prospect seems very attractive imo, but if the union know they won't achieve 19% anyway it is probably on them to start dropping. But neither side wants to lose face so I just can't see how this is going to work now.
The government won't even engage in discussions, they're ignoring it and hoping it goes away. The unions have proposed the percentage, if the government feel its unacceptable (which they do) they should be up for discussing it surely rather than waiting for the unions to keep saying the same thing or dropping it of their own accord.
I can’t help but feel that the lack of negotiation is a tactic by the government in order to drag out the pay dispute. That way they hope that public support will fade.
Absolutely the government should, the onus is on them
The problem is that even if this years pay rise was agreed there’s still the problem of next year and the year after that and so on
The not at all independent pay review body isn’t fit for purpose and takes far too long to implement rises in the first place, as well as recommending rises that are far too low.
I predict strikes will continue, neither side will back down, people will die and the tide will turn on the public opinion of the NHS.
At this point if we still have Tories in power they will strip it of assets and sell it off to their mates in america or wherever
We can only hope a general election happens before this point
I completely agree as a doctor. I often look around and wonder why the feck are we putting 90 year olds through invasive procedures, scanning to look for cancers, round after round of antibiotics, I’ve even seen critical care getting called to see frail elderly patients for ?HDU/ICU. I do feel this is worse since COVID, I think partially because we cannot give good basic care anymore we try to do as much as possible even when we shouldn’t. Some of it is definitely unrealistic expectations also. But I think we are a victim of our own success in being able to extend peoples lives but also extend the period of time they spend unwell.
I wouldn’t bother ringing an ambulance for anyone right now, 80 years old or otherwise.
9/10 hour waits for Red 1’s should be a national emergency supported by a mass public health campaign…but it isn’t
Absolutely, i think a lot of the public dont care anyway though tbh. I think a lot want a functioning and accessible free at point of use health service, but don't want to support the people who make that happen. It's nothing without the staff. The government can buy the fanciest equipment and buildings but without the suitably qualified and experienced healthcare staff people are still not going to receive any/an acceptable level of care. I suspect a lot of the public aren't arsed until they need healthcare and then complain about the long waits and level of care.
Also agree about sometimes prolonging life to no one's benefit but just because we can. Doesn't always mean we should.
Exactly this
The Tories gave the NHS millions for equipment during the pandemic but all it did was cause untold stress to frontline clinical managers who were told to buy the stuff knowing they did not have the staff to operate the equipment …then there’s the perpetual layers of reporting and questioning from DHSC wanting to know why X number of X-ray machines hasn’t reduced the waiting list…..because there’s nobody to press the flipping button!!!!!
I get this 1000%. My great nan was the same but she had cancer, it became a cycle of the exact same thing, hospital > stable > home and repeat. It seemed such a waste of resources to keep getting an ambulance out for someone who was literally hanging on by a thread, and I don’t mean that in a cold way either. Community based care again would’ve been the most beneficial for her too. There are just so many things within the NHS that need to change, it’s awful