I love working in the NHS because..........................

[mabel u.k]

There has been quite a bit of negativity about the NHS and working in the UK on this forum recently so instead of another thread saying how bad things are and how much we hate our co-workers I thought it would be nice to have a more positive thread. I'll start

I loved my job because:

I am a nurse practitioner in general surgery and recently I put a bid together to support a more formalised pre-assessment service, I took it to my senior managers who supported it and took it to the trust board. I have recieved confirmation today that it is a project that will be supported and funded by my trust.

There is money there you just have to try to put together a good case to access it.

[plato353]

Thanks Nursemonique 21 i could not RECALL Gibbs in time so much emotion.I guess pre Alzheimers and taking life with a pinch of salt:monkeydance: is having an undesired effect

Keep up the spirit lol Nursemonique 21

I am with you Nubes on our esteemed coll Mabel uk, shows the profound essence of nursing care still exist in in a remote corner of the UK where my car sat navigation has no signal.We should applaud this self gratifying dedication. NOT

To all you young aspiring nurses who have reached all there developmental milestones as kids this is clearly not the way to get on the Queens honours list. Feeling and doing good in your job is recognised by your coll without you having to look over your shoulder on who is going to compliment next.

In Africa my ancestors did not have to beat their drums the loudest too be heard.

plato 353

" MODESTY IS THE VIRTUE OF KINGS ....., CARRY A BIG STICK AND SPEAK SOFTLY....." Sir Alan Paton CRY MY BELOVED COUNTRY 1948

[Fiona59]

I have to chuckle when I read this thread.

I work in a fair sized Canadian city with a couple of hospitals that are internationally recognized.

We have tired, dis-illusioned, underpaid, overworked nurses here. Funding to various levels of care are cut, clients (how I hate that word) are more demanding and want the latest drugs (which usually aren't available in Canada but we are so close to the States that they see them on tv and in magazines), want treatments that are not suitable for them, want private rooms and get p*ssy when they aren't available.

I would love to be able to take my holidays when I want to, but can't because there aren't enough replacement staff.

I have co-workers who would love a full time job but can only get part time positions.

Yes, the grass is always greener on the other side, until you actually have to graze on it....

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

I have to say I worked on a very special unit too in the South coast of the UK. I worked above and beyond the call of duty and so did my other colleegues. We all had enthusiasm and worked hard to implement change. We involved all staff and all enjoyed a happy working environment, I have to say most of the hospital was a pleasant place to work as I was often the clinical lead and had to cover the whole site. The other parts of our trust however were miserable horrible unhappy places to work. There was little if no retention.

I do however believe there are lots of corners of the Uk where there are happy places to work.

Here in the US you will find happy places and horrible places to work-same grass just different country-Oh that was another thread lol

[english_nurse]

the thing about the nhs is that things can change for the worse at the drop of a hat when the trust decide to make cuts to save money, especially high up the nursing ladder, more so than at ward level, hence why we have been left in the cold on my ward as our matrons job was phased out and she had to leave, but during the time she was our boss the unit i work in was one of the most envied , we never had problems recruiting staff, people had worked there for years, the patient care was excellent and most were happy

mabel, i am not criticising but, yes, you do work in the NHS but your job is very different to the majority of NHS workers, you dont seem to be stuck on one ward, dealing with cranky relatives who dont understand why i cant spend all day with their mum/dad when ive got 17 others to look after, with half the staff i had a year ago!

The last night i worked i spent half the night chasing a detox who decided to throw his urine bottle over the patients in the bay because no one had time to take the thing away, he then flipped and started throwing funiture, so i had to call security, he was moved from the ward after the other patients got distressed.

my last shift was very different to yours mable, so you can see why i feel the NHS has let me and my patients down.

i used to have one shift in a million like this now most are like it, when i walk on the ward i hold my breath as i dont know what mess or how many staff i will be coming into.

im sure someone on here will say 'well you know, things will not be better in the USA, it can be hard here you know' which may be true, but for me its time for a change.

my grass will be greener, it will just be artificial and painted green rather than the natural greeness i used to know when i first qualified as a nurse in the NHS which incidently wasnt that long ago!

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

I think the staff are struggling badly in the NHS and it has always fluctuated from bad to good and back again. It is difficult to see why things feel different now. I think in the past when the job freezes were on, each hospital employed bank staff and they were utilised really effectively.

I can remember being a newly qualified staff nurse working on a 23 bedded renal ward with at least 5 patients on machine dialysis and being the only RN with 2 auxillaries as they were then known, it was normal. Renal units and medical nits have always been heavy hard work wards. Every patient being on IV antilbiotics and we made them up ourselves-the only floor I may add who did that was the renal unit because we all had to be IV trained other wards it wasnt important for the staff to be IV trained the docs would do it.

So why was it ok then to work like that but it is not ok nowerdays, what is the difference between now and then? I think the patients are worse they behave badly and demand so much more. The patients charter has a lot to blame and i honestly believe the way they train nurses has changed.

[english_nurse]

Its never been right to risk the life or safety of a patient, which i believe low staffing levels does, the levels you quote to me are the regular levels at night, usually im one short so its usually me and a hca.

as for the training, there is alot wrong with the recent training (of which i am a product) maybe we are taught to have higher expectations these days?

Im im not so sure the public would like to go back to the student nurses running the wards, imagine what the courts would make of that, after all we are in a sue happy society.

[Owain Glyndwr]

Instead of responding to the most recent posts I thought I would tell you about my shift today to demonstrate what I love about the NHS, I have had a fantastic day.... I then checked the on call book on the ward that my office is based on to make sure there were no urgent jobs that needed to be dealt with. Fortunately the Hospital at night team had sorted out all of the problems. I then walked the floor. I cover 6 surgical wards and any surgical patient that is outlying on other wards on the weekends which is different to my week work.

On the first ward I attended they had a patient they were concerned with, he was post op 3 days (colorectal) and had began vomiting. I reviewed his history and examined him, he had been allowed to drink the previous day and I couldn't hear bowel sounds so I reduced him back to sips and prescribed some IV fluids after checking his bloods. THese are all skills that I have learnt within the NHS fully supported by my managment. I bleeped the SHO to asked him to review him later.

So no 'nursing' so far.........

I then went to the next ward where they were short staffed because they had one nurse escorting to CT she wasn't going to be too long and I didn't have any jobs that needed to be done, so I took her bay of patients to help alleviate the workload a little until she returned. I made a a few beds with the HCA and assisted a confused lady to have a wash and dress. One of the HCA's was only on her 3rd shift and was unsure how to take a manual blood pressure so I talked her through it and she took my BP then the patients.

Bit of 'nursing' there. Are they short staffed because all the nurses have gone to be nurse practitioners?

The emergency bleep went and I attended another post op, peri arrest the staff had notice a deterioration and the pateint had become even more drowsy within the past hour. When I arrived there was very little for me to do as because of the training they had recieved from our resuscitation department put up high flow oxy and they had speeded up fluids. He was a shocked post op so with some fluid he improved and HDU came to assess him further.

No nursing required

Now there were lots of other little jobs that needed to be done, resiting IV's taking bloods arranging discharges and the usual sort of stuff that makes up my weekend work. Because it is August the new house officers need lots of reassurance the docs that we have within my unit are a little green but ask for help when they need it and to be honest they are very competent. Today I have also spent time with one of our new ward managers who was feeling overwhelmed by her role and we spent a bit of time talking about how she could feel more in control of her new job.

Lots of little jobs, but no nursing ones. Apart from looking after junior doctors. Glad to see you feel they are competent - very satisfying.

THe highlight of my day was reveiwing one of my patients for discharge. During the week I work with one consultant so I a patient caseload.... I knelt by her side and explained that I wasn't a doctor I was a nurse practitioner. I explained that this was a nurse who worked on all of the wards and I worked for her consultant which made me her special nurse.

Now she had been very unwell on a few occasions but every time I attended her she said here is my special nurse. After many weeks of investigations and interventions, then dealing with her home situation and making sure she was safe to go home today she is finally ready for discharge - both physically and more importantly mentally as she had lost much of her confidence during her admission. I cannot explain the relationship that I had with this lady but to see her go home well is reward enough. But it does not end with her discharge as she is booked into clinic in 4 weeks so I will see how she is progressing there. This continuity is priceless. If she had been an elective patient I would have seen her pre admission, pre operatively assessment I would have been there for her admission and discharge and then in follow up clinic.

So, what is the ward nurse's role in all of this? Or don't they have enough time

I have a fantastic job, I work with fantastic nurses, doctors and managers. I love being with my patients and I love working in a role where I can still be a nurse but learn and practice new skills as well. and have continuity with my patients from the start of the care to when they are discharged from clinic.[/quote

OG

[Chassie2]

I have only been a qualified paeds nurse for two years, and I truly love nursing, seeing a terribly sick child bounce back to full health is someone that you can't beat. But the NHS has drained me...internal rotation (coming off nights onto earlies), stretches of 14 days (working 13 of them), lack of staff (or being one of the only staff on the shift, and being so scared of what I needed to do if there was ever an emergency), feeling so so wretched after night shifts (and dreading going onto shifts). Being sick of complaints from parents about why their child's operation has been cancelled for the 3rd day in a row (when we're just the messenger from theatre), taking sh*t from rude families. Reading press reports about how superbugs are running rife through my hospital (when our ward has been one of the cleanest) and parents coming in saying "are we going to catch anything being here?". Running ragged all shift with no lunch or dinner break, finishing the shift half an hour late and not being able to claim overtime...feeling faint due to running round all day with no food...and parents still looking at you funny when you say "I'm really busy, I can't fetch your child a TV at the moment". Yes, there are days when you can say "I've really made a difference for someone today" but these are too few in the NHS...I handed in my notice last month with a huge sigh of relief, I'm only sad that it was the work I loved but not all the "added extras" that went with it.

[english_nurse]

i will tell you one thing the nhs hasnt given me

a house with a swimming pool

yeah, i know i havnt got one yet but its only a matter of time lmao

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

i will tell you one thing the nhs hasnt given me

a house with a swimming pool

yeah, i know i havnt got one yet but its only a matter of time lmao

Come on you wouldnt want a pool in the UK:rolleyes: It is a normal thing over here to have one lol. You wont get rich quick over here as a nurse. But you will earn a good living.

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

I have only been a qualified paeds nurse for two years, and I truly love nursing, seeing a terribly sick child bounce back to full health is someone that you can't beat. But the NHS has drained me...internal rotation (coming off nights onto earlies), stretches of 14 days (working 13 of them), lack of staff (or being one of the only staff on the shift, and being so scared of what I needed to do if there was ever an emergency), feeling so so wretched after night shifts (and dreading going onto shifts). Being sick of complaints from parents about why their child's operation has been cancelled for the 3rd day in a row (when we're just the messenger from theatre), taking sh*t from rude families. Reading press reports about how superbugs are running rife through my hospital (when our ward has been one of the cleanest) and parents coming in saying "are we going to catch anything being here?". Running ragged all shift with no lunch or dinner break, finishing the shift half an hour late and not being able to claim overtime...feeling faint due to running round all day with no food...and parents still looking at you funny when you say "I'm really busy, I can't fetch your child a TV at the moment". Yes, there are days when you can say "I've really made a difference for someone today" but these are too few in the NHS...I handed in my notice last month with a huge sigh of relief, I'm only sad that it was the work I loved but not all the "added extras" that went with it.

So sad the life of a nurse in the UK:( I really feel for you I honestly do.

[english_nurse]

i dont want rich quick

i just want a pool

actually i have one but its full of frogs