Have a LOT of questions on UK nursing

uk_nurse · Sep 3, 2004

if you are newly qulaified you will be a 'D' grade (but the grading is changing soon). it doesnt matter whether you have a diploma or degree. i think the salary for newly qualified is around £16,500 per year. Less than in US. i hope this gives you some idea. By the way you do get 'special allowances eg working weekends and nights, bank holidays .

andreamae · Sep 4, 2004

OMG! 16,500??? Is the cost of living lower then in the US? Is that even enough to live comfortably on?

Silverdragon102, BSN · Sep 4, 2004

OMG! 16,500??? Is the cost of living lower then in the US? Is that even enough to live comfortably on?

Unfortunately the cost of living is higher than living in the US and if you live on your own or are the only breadwinner of the family then it is hard to live on that here in the UK. If you live in London you are paid a bit more but not enough to afford the prices of rent etc. 16500 does not include any unsociable hours that is extra but again with the new grading coming in that might be removed and just included in the pay. I recently spoke to someone who works in a hospital (I work community now) and she believes with the new payscale she is going to be atleast 4-5000 worse off.

donmurray · Sep 4, 2004

The money's not great, but minimum "D" grade is £17,060. As for the Agenda for change banding, nobody but the early implementers, who have already switched, knows what their band will be, and everyone transfers across at their current basic salary. The planned changes to unsocial hours payments have been put on hold, so losses of that scale seem most unlikely now, if ever.

Lulu34 · Sep 4, 2004

According to the NT 90% of people will get a pay increase on A4C and over 20% get a £2000 increase.

Have a look at this poster showing the bands where some nurses will be under the new scheme. According to this newly qualified staff nurses will be on £18114 which is an increase of £1054.

andreamae · Sep 4, 2004

Ok, so when you convert 17,000 pounds into dollars, its about 31,000. Thats pretty good here in the US, even if the price of living is high. I'm planning on living 2 years in London with a friend of mine. If we split all household expenses, will I have enough money to be comfortable? (i don't mean go out and spend money like a king) But go to clubs on the weekend, and stuff like that.

donmurray · Sep 4, 2004

London is hideously expensive. There are currently allowances for nurses working there, which don't quite make up the difference.

For Inner london it's £3,441 pa

and Outer London £2,668 pa

that's the 2004/05 figure

You will need to register. http://www.nmc-uk.org/nmc/main/splash.html is the Nursing and Midwifery Council. It can take some time to process your application.

They have a message board in the practitioner area, you can post questions there too.

Darcifly · Sep 5, 2004

HI....here in the US we have highly developed "travel nursing agencies".

In fact I get emails all the time regarding positions out West where they are offering $35-38 dollars an hour, premium private housing and a $600-800 travel allowance. Does a similiar entity exist in the UK? My husband and I are both RNs. He has been practicing for 2 years (he was a police officer at first and decided to go back to school and change careers) and I have been for 12 yrs. His area of practice has been Emergency Trauma and for the past 6 months he has been working in Acute Psychiatric Stabilization. I have always done Maternal Child Nursing....labor/delivery/pediatrics. We really would like to come to the UK for a year....we also have 2 sons that we would bring and put them in school over there. (10 and 12 yrs old) Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

:) Darci

Silverdragon102, BSN · Sep 5, 2004

HI....here in the US we have highly developed "travel nursing agencies".
In fact I get emails all the time regarding positions out West where they are offering $35-38 dollars an hour, premium private housing and a $600-800 travel allowance. Does a similiar entity exist in the UK? My husband and I are both RNs. He has been practicing for 2 years (he was a police officer at first and decided to go back to school and change careers) and I have been for 12 yrs. His area of practice has been Emergency Trauma and for the past 6 months he has been working in Acute Psychiatric Stabilization. I have always done Maternal Child Nursing....labor/delivery/pediatrics. We really would like to come to the UK for a year....we also have 2 sons that we would bring and put them in school over there. (10 and 12 yrs old) Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
:) Darci

I don't think we have anything that works the same way as travel nursing but you can join an agency who covers quite an area within the UK and you might be able to get work in a similar style.

School varies from area to area so I would suggest choosing and area where you would like to live and then look at the school tables to see how they are performing. Schools are getting extremly hard to get into these days and you have to live within the school boundaries to get a place.The only difference would be paying for private schooling.