canadian nurse moving to scotland

r0semar1e · May 29, 2004

Hi

I dont have any information about nursing in Scotland (sorry!)

But could you please tell me why you want to leave Canada?

I am hoping to move there to nurse when I graduate as I thought it was a better place to nurse, are there any major problems with nursing there that made you want to leave?

Reply if you have the time, thanks

Rosemarie

:) :) :) :)

chrisrob · May 29, 2004

scotland is a lovely place to live i admire your choice :) Glasgow royal infirmary has an oncology unit as has the western i8nf they have a whole unit there are lots of agencies that would be happy to take you on, i live outside glasgow bout 6 miles i love glasgow PM for adresses of the hosp and agencies you'll love it here :)

lmp on the move · May 29, 2004

There is nothing wrong with Canada, well except maybe the weather (our favourite topic of conversation), we're moving to do a little travelling and it's just easier from that side of the pond. The only concern as far as nursing goes, at least from my perspective, is the lack of encouragement and support for furthering your education. Most centres don't recognize or care if you go on to obtain your bsnc or other courses so there really is no incentive. Otherwise, the pay is good, the working conditions in most places is great and hey we're really nice here so what else can you ask for!

Good luck.:)

lmp on the move · May 29, 2004

Thanks for the info on Glasgow and such. My husband is from Glasgow but that was a long time ago so we are fairly out of the loop! I've looked at the Beatson Centre and Western General as well as some of the smaller places like Livingston. Just not sure which would be best for raising a family.

Summertime is coming up fast though so decisions will have to be made soon!

Thanks for your input...:)

MariaK · Jun 3, 2004

I was pleasantly surprised to find this forum so I could ask some informal questions... I'm moving to Scotland this summer, area yet to be detirmined although we are leaning toward Glasgow or Edinburgh of course! I'm an Oncology nurse with 11 years experience and am looking to stay in this field. Any suggestions on which hospital/ centre/ agency I should be looking at or avoiding? Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Congrats on moving...it is a big step!! I moved from South Africa to the UK to be a cardiac nurse. I spoke to 3 agencies in London and the best by far is InterStaff. They were so helpful and they got me interviews and helped me with moving, for free. If you are interested I can give you their phone number, I am sure they do Scotland.

Kaylesh · Jun 3, 2004

Hiya

As you can see I'm living in Dunfermline Scotland. Which is about 35 min from Edinburgh with easy access to the main motorways.. Its a lovely area of Scotland to live in and easy access to quite a few hospitals.

I'm originally from the US.. Massachusetts been here for five years and love it.

Feel free to message me. I currently work for a nursing agency and go to quite a few of the hospitals in the area.

Kaylesh

lmp on the move · Jun 4, 2004

I'm looking to live between Glasgow and Edinburgh, probably West Lothian although Fife looks so beautiful I have looked at a couple of properties (Dalgety Bay and Dunfermline to be exact). My husband is in hotel management so we definitely need to be able to commute to one of the larger cities. Did you arrange housing yourself or was it taken care of for you? How do you like agency work...we really don't have much of that here where I live so I'm not sure if I'd like it. I do hear they get paid more and work is flexible so...who knows?

Thanks!:)

Kaylesh · Jun 4, 2004

Hiya

Dalgety Bay and Dunfermline are great areas.. I live in Dunfermline so im a bitty biased LOL.. You are right it is a beautiful area. West Lothian is nice as well. I like that Edinburgh is so close by not that far over the bridge and Dunfermline is near major motorways so that helps a lot as well. I first came over here on a work permit. Worked in Aberdeen till Oct 2002 then moved down here to Fife.. took a job outside Edinburgh at a private reasearch clinic. Missed acute care soo much I left that in Dec 03. Started to the agency work in Feb.. The agency i work for is the highest paying one around so its good ££ . I love the flexibility of the agency work however there can be periods of time when there is hardly any work on the go. Like just now.. May/Early June is very slow with the hospitals in the area. They tell me it does pick back up and that most nurses put away some of their pay for the slow time in May or take their holidays then.

Downside is that you really can not do too much if you have given your availability for that day.. You can do stuff in your own area but you can go away for the day. So I guess it really depends on what you want to do.

Kaylesh

lmp on the move · Jun 5, 2004

It sounds like agency work is similar to our 'casual' nurses. Except that casual nurses are still employed by the hospitals...they just get paid a little more (about 20%) in liu of benefits and paid vacation time. We are usually assigned to one specific floor though. Again the perks are the money but you don't have any assurance of work so if you have bills that need to be paid you kind of have to plan for short hour times. My husband is probably going to end up in Edinburgh so we may end up in Fife after all! THanks for all your info...any areas to look out for in Dunfermline (to NOT live in I mean)?