continental travel nurse

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Hi I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with the agency "continental travel nurse"? I recently applied to them and received a call back and was wondering if anyone knows anything about this agency? Good or bad?

Thanks

Specializes in Surg- PACU/Anaes.

Hey guys- anyone still waiting to be deployed with CTN? I'm considering appying elsewhere, as Ive got my own London housing and they said I need to be aware I may be sent outside of London, cannot give me any guarantees of deployment etc. Which is not really good enough considering I'm in private housing and funding everything myself for them.

Any thoughts?

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I have worked with this company for a year and a half. If i had any other way of working in London I would run as far and as fast as I could from this company. They lie, steal your money and never have their nurses backs in any situation. I have gone through 6 recuiters since i started. The NHS is a horrible system to work in aswell. They dont treat their nurses with respect and demand them to do an extremly hard job with little training , equipment and pay. I am not bitter. Im really happy in London, its an amazing city. I just advise nurses to think before they sign up with a company that doesnt care about its employes at all. Im looking for a way to get my own visa so I can leave ASAP. Good Luck with your journies.

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Specializes in Surg- PACU/Anaes.
I have worked with this company for a year and a half. If i had any other way of working in London I would run as far and as fast as I could from this company. They lie, steal your money and never have their nurses backs in any situation. I have gone through 6 recuiters since i started. The NHS is a horrible system to work in aswell. They dont treat their nurses with respect and demand them to do an extremly hard job with little training , equipment and pay. I am not bitter. Im really happy in London, its an amazing city. I just advise nurses to think before they sign up with a company that doesnt care about its employes at all. Im looking for a way to get my own visa so I can leave ASAP. Good Luck with your journies.

Hey, what do you mean steal money? What would you suggest to those wanting to work over in the UK, as an alternative to this company? Have you worked at all in the private sector?

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Hi! Is there an update for the applicants here in CTN? How are the nurses who were deployed in UK? Please share your experiences with us.

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I've been with CTN for over a year now and I would STAY AWAY! They are the most unprofessional travel company I've ever worked with. Apart from a few none of them are nurses so they have no idea what its like to do shift work or how demanding and difficult our jobs can be. They will charge fees for every little thing and withhold pay for every little thing. They lie. If you work for them I strongly advise not to take their housing. You will be in a house with 5-7 other people (ours was without heat for 3 months). The houses are usually outside the city and needing a lot of repairs and they will charge you for repairs!! STAY AWAY!!

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Stay away from this agency. They do not fulfill their promises.

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good day everyone! Just want to share this, I received my DL last July 22 and still waiting for their confirmation. I'm starting to get frustrated because of this waiting game and a lot of time has been wasted!! If only I knew that their process would be this long, I could have entertained other employers from NHS Trusts in the previous months. Sorry guys I'm just voicing out what I feel to their recruitment process. Just hoping that our application with them goes smoothly. :) By the way, has anyone here who has the same situation as mine? I signed with CTN under IPAMS.

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Hi! I am also from ipams CTN. I am not quite sure if i am going to continue my application with them as there are a lot of negative comments here. Have they already found you a hospital to work for in the UK while you were waiting for your DL?

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Hi! I am also from ipams CTN. I am not quite sure if i am going to continue my application with them as there are a lot of negative comments here. Have they already found you a hospital to work for in the UK while you were waiting for your DL?

There are always negative reviews. Most of them are posted. What we usually don't see online are the good sides of a company/hospital. I know nurses who work with them and are satisfied with their experience though.

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I have been with Continental for some time now, and I can honestly say that working with them and having them sponsor my visa was a huge mistake! I love the UK and am so glad I came here, but if I had to do it over again I would sign up directly with my hospital/the NHS rather than go through any kind of agency. The NHS is desperate for nurses (8,000 vacancies in London alone) and I have had several hospital trusts say they were completely ready and willing to sponsor a Tier 2 visa. Despite the fact that nursing in the NHS is generally far inferior an experience to nursing elsewhere in the western world and is well-known for its poor pay, Continental manages to give its agency nurses even less than the NHS. To lay it out explicitly, you will be paid 14 GBP/hr for day shifts, 16 for nights and 18 for Sundays and bank holidays (while Continental reportedly charges nearly triple this hourly rate to the NHS) and you will have housing, taxes, and other costs deducted from this rate- leaving you with precious little left over. In addition to the terrible pay, you don't receive annual leave (the 1 week of penalty-free housing per 13 week contract hardly counts as annual leave) or any other benefits package, and you receive no ongoing education aside from the annual mandatory training that you pay for yourself. There are no opportunities for advancement and there will never be a pay raise even if you provide stellar service for years with Continental. In addition to the terribly poor compensation, Continental never misses an opportunity to nickel-and-dime you at every possible opportunity for services both real and imagined.

Aside from the clear financial issues, Continental has a poor track record of high turnover of recruiters (I've had three since being with the company- only one of which was helpful, honest, and supportive), poor and allegedly dishonest communication with both nurses and hospitals, and alternate harassment/neglect of their employees. There is a clear and distinct lack of respect, understanding, and concern for their nurses and I would never recommend this agency to any nurse wishing to come to the UK. Continental has limited opportunities at very few hospitals in the south of the UK, and those opportunities are becoming crummier by the day as Continental's reputation within the NHS declines because of its mismanagement and money-grubbing.

If you must come to the UK, come on your own terms or come as part of the NHS. Continental is not a good option, in my experience.

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I have been with Continental for some time now, and I can honestly say that working with them and having them sponsor my visa was a huge mistake! I love the UK and am so glad I came here, but if I had to do it over again I would sign up directly with my hospital/the NHS rather than go through any kind of agency. The NHS is desperate for nurses (8,000 vacancies in London alone) and I have had several hospital trusts say they were completely ready and willing to sponsor a Tier 2 visa. Despite the fact that nursing in the NHS is generally far inferior an experience to nursing elsewhere in the western world and is well-known for its poor pay, Continental manages to give its agency nurses even less than the NHS. To lay it out explicitly, you will be paid 14 GBP/hr for day shifts, 16 for nights and 18 for Sundays and bank holidays (while Continental reportedly charges nearly triple this hourly rate to the NHS) and you will have housing, taxes, and other costs deducted from this rate- leaving you with precious little left over. In addition to the terrible pay, you don't receive annual leave (the 1 week of penalty-free housing per 13 week contract hardly counts as annual leave) or any other benefits package, and you receive no ongoing education aside from the annual mandatory training that you pay for yourself. There are no opportunities for advancement and there will never be a pay raise even if you provide stellar service for years with Continental. In addition to the terribly poor compensation, Continental never misses an opportunity to nickel-and-dime you at every possible opportunity for services both real and imagined.

Aside from the clear financial issues, Continental has a poor track record of high turnover of recruiters (I've had three since being with the company- only one of which was helpful, honest, and supportive), poor and allegedly dishonest communication with both nurses and hospitals, and alternate harassment/neglect of their employees. There is a clear and distinct lack of respect, understanding, and concern for their nurses and I would never recommend this agency to any nurse wishing to come to the UK. Continental has limited opportunities at very few hospitals in the south of the UK, and those opportunities are becoming crummier by the day as Continental's reputation within the NHS declines because of its mismanagement and money-grubbing.

If you must come to the UK, come on your own terms or come as part of the NHS. Continental is not a good option, in my experience.

From what country are yoi from?

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How to apply with the NHS directly? I just got this email from Continental, but I won't join them because of their bad reputation.

Dear Continental Travel Nurse

The NMC has finally changed the English requirements for overseas nurses.

As of 1st November 2017 there are now 4 ways to prove English proficiency:

· IELTS level 7 OR

· OET (Occupational English Test) B grade OR *

· Trained in an English speaking country OR

· Worked in a hospital as an RN in an English speaking country for at least

a year AND as part of the RN registration process an English test was taken

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