Uk for Uk?

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Hi all,

Sorry if this offends anyone, but over the last few months, all I've seen in the UK forum is how people are wanting to go to the US! I understand why you might want to do it... but I personally want to hear from people in the UK about UK nursing. Is it so bad that every person from the UK on this forum wants to go to the US?

Come on, prove me wrong!

Specializes in ICU,ANTICOAG,ACUTE STROKE,EDU,RESEARCH.

Thanks Nicky34,I'll try to remember that although the memory isn't what it was.

Also I will think very carefully about where I go -certainly not California as it is the most expensive state to live in and also has one of the highest shortages of nurses.Wonder why.Always best to do the research first.

How long have you been NURSING in the NHS.It's interesting to see how peoples attitude changes over time. I notice neithewr of you commented on afc etc

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

I have done more courses and qualifications since I qualified than the 3 years training I did to become an RN. The only time in my life that I didnt study was the months leading up to my immigration, the qualification RN does not unfortunatly give you very much and you should expect to do more studying post qualification. In my humble opinion there is not much difference to the qualification being recieved nowerdays by the new RN's it just has a fancy title attatched to it "diploma or advanced diploma" but it really doesnt make you any more qualified. To enter nursing years ago where I come from you had to have good GCE's to even get shortlisted there was no easy way in. One nursing school in Manchester would only take potential nurses who had achieved straight A's in one take.

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
Thanks Nicky34,I'll try to remember that although the memory isn't what it was.

Also I will think very carefully about where I go -certainly not California as it is the most expensive state to live in and also has one of the highest shortages of nurses.Wonder why.Always best to do the research first.

How long have you been NURSING in the NHS.It's interesting to see how peoples attitude changes over time. I notice neithewr of you commented on afc etc

AZ is quite an expensive state to buy a house but the houses are very very nice.

We cant afford to buy one but we've never been good with money lol:roll

Afc I have no comment I did ok by it but loads did not. It was built up to be something it really wasnt. Lots havent even recieved their back pay yet because their trusts are bankrupt, it will take years to sort out. We never had a choice, it was something that was going to happen.

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How long have you been NURSING in the NHS.It's interesting to see how peoples attitude changes over time. I notice neithewr of you commented on afc etc

I'm not sure if this question was directed at me...as I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm not a nurse, I'm due to start training soon as a mature student.

So I can't comment on nursing in the NHS from experience. What I'm more interested in is the training side of things. I very much doubt that a newqualified nurse has learnt everything there is to learn and as the previous poster said, often more learning is done post-registration.

My concerns really are that all I seem to hear are "old" nurses moaning about how newly qualified nurses don't know their a*se from their elbow and how cr*p training is today. I discussed this in another thread 'uk training=dangerous'.

It worries me as I don't know whether it's just the opinion of a certain group or whether I should really reconsider going into nursing in the first place.

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
I'm not sure if this question was directed at me...as I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm not a nurse, I'm due to start training soon as a mature student.

So I can't comment on nursing in the NHS from experience. What I'm more interested in is the training side of things. I very much doubt that a newqualified nurse has learnt everything there is to learn and as the previous poster said, often more learning is done post-registration.

My concerns really are that all I seem to hear are "old" nurses moaning about how newly qualified nurses don't know their a*se from their elbow and how cr*p training is today. I discussed this in another thread 'uk training=dangerous'.

It worries me as I don't know whether it's just the opinion of a certain group or whether I should really reconsider going into nursing in the first place.

I wouldnt worry, when I qualified the older nurses said we didnt know our **se from our elbow-people will always reminiss about 'the good old days' even your parents must have done that. There are and will always be good and bad nurses, and it doesnt matter when or how you were trained. The problem with newly qualified nurses today is that they dont get as much practical experience so are not as competant when they qualify but this doesnt mean to say that they wont ever become competant, they will but it just takes longer. The focus is too much on academic achievements and not enough on good practical placements, when I trained every year you did 8 weeks medical/8 weeks surgical so you got lots of experience, working hard and time management. So as i said dont worry, you'll be a good as you want to be.

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
It worries me as I don't know whether it's just the opinion of a certain group or whether I should really reconsider going into nursing in the first place.

Nursing is not an easy profession but it can be an enjoyable one. Dont take to heart what you read on here, we will often moan and graon about issues that's what we excell in lol. Follow your gut instinct it wont let you down, and hey if it's not for you you will know quickly enough.

You will mean old dragons along the way but most of them will retire soon :chuckle or leave to go to the US

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My concerns really are that all I seem to hear are "old" nurses moaning about how newly qualified nurses don't know their a*se from their elbow and how cr*p training is today.

As long as the nurse knows the patient's ar$e from their elbow, that's the main thing :p

I don't think training is crOp today. It's changed like a lot of things over the last god knows how many years. High vacancies in Trusts, low staffing, lack of staffing continuity, post cuts/freezing, a generalised lack of support for mentors has a lot to do with students not getting a fair deal and coming out of 3 years training woefully unprepared and, allegedly, crOp.

Of course, my Trust isn't like this as I'm responsible for pre and post reg nurse education!!

Nicky - choose your University carefully and look at it's allocated Trust(s) and how it's performing. Could determine what sort of 3 years you're likely to get.

Cheers

OG

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Specializes in ICU,ANTICOAG,ACUTE STROKE,EDU,RESEARCH.

Oh dear, WHO said training was crop? Also when I was a student we didn't have mentors and wards were just as short staffed.Old (again not my quote)style nursing was criticised for being task led and not patient led but I believe that unless you have oodles of staff it is very difficult to attend to all basic nursing needs without a well organised system of work. i think training today is trying to train nurses to fit a role which is an ideal vision of nursing.unfortunately those who make the decisions about how training should be often have their rose coloured spectacles on at the time and do not appreciate the reality of the NHS.

Just like to say I'm certainly not an old dragon about to retire.Some of you may one day realise that in the NHS being conscientious, hard working and caring is very stressful and eventually the lack of appreciation and value in any job has an effect.

Overall, it's actually the patients I feel for the most.Having been one recently

and ending up very ill all because no one would carry out an ultrasound scan until I asked for one leaves a somewhat bitter taste in ones mouth.

Patients often do not receive good basic nursing care (eg adequate hydration, positional changes etc) and are discharged too soon and without adequate follow up or input.

Still no one has commented about nurses GOING in as 5s with AFC when all other professions entry level is band 6.Do I assume that this is approval?

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Oh dear, WHO said training was crop? Also when I was a student we didn't have mentors and wards were just as short staffed.Old (again not my quote)style nursing was criticised for being task led and not patient led but I believe that unless you have oodles of staff it is very difficult to attend to all basic nursing needs without a well organised system of work. i think training today is trying to train nurses to fit a role which is an ideal vision of nursing.unfortunately those who make the decisions about how training should be often have their rose coloured spectacles on at the time and do not appreciate the reality of the NHS.

Just like to say I'm certainly not an old dragon about to retire.Some of you may one day realise that in the NHS being conscientious, hard working and caring is very stressful and eventually the lack of appreciation and value in any job has an effect.

Overall, it's actually the patients I feel for the most.Having been one recently

and ending up very ill all because no one would carry out an ultrasound scan until I asked for one leaves a somewhat bitter taste in ones mouth.

Patients often do not receive good basic nursing care (eg adequate hydration, positional changes etc) and are discharged too soon and without adequate follow up or input.

Still no one has commented about nurses GOING in as 5s with AFC when all other professions entry level is band 6.Do I assume that this is approval?

None of my comments were directed at yourself. I simply mentioned that many people do say that nursing training is cr*p when I mention that I am about to embark on a nursing career. No one said that you were a dragon either and it's unfortunate that you seem to have taken the posts personally. I'm sure that patients sometimes do not receive good basic nursing care, but I doubt that things were perfect 20 years ago as your post would imply...I'm sure many nurses are consciencious and know perfectly well that working in the NHS is stressful. I doubt you are the only one on this forum with experience...

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Still no one has commented about nurses GOING in as 5s with AFC when all other professions entry level is band 6.Do I assume that this is approval?

I take it that when you mention 'all other professions' you are including in no particular order Physios, OTs, Radiographers, Speech and Language Therapists, and Podiatrists who all have Band 5 National Profiles? Surely all these other professions would be merrily 'going in as 5s' as well?

This doesn't excuse the fact that they may be less likely to be hanging around in Band 5 with the RNs for a long time as they have potential greater promotion opportunities etc. They will still be at Band 5 though.

It also doesn't excuse the fact that AfC is pants, but is here to stay. The sooner everyone sees that AfC was 'thought through' over a long period of time to ensure that the NHS was not going to be bankrupted through paying larger staff groups at lot more money than they are currently earning, the better. It was aimed at recruitment to D Grade and recruitment and retention at G Grade Ward Manager level. Everyone else didn't stand a chance.

Cheers

OG

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We have a play therapist, yes play (as in does colouring with kids and blows bubbles for distraction) who was recently banded as band 5!!!!!! I don't really need to say that this has caused complete amazement and anger with our D grade nurses.

Afc, hmm

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most nurses move to theb us to follow a dream that hursing allows you to follow,that certainly applies to me and my family

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