Jobs in UK

fergus51 · Jun 17, 2006

I'm sorry this is happening. Canada did this in the early 90s and they are still feeling the effects. They're trying to lure the nurses that left for the US back to Canada now.

Fiona59 · Jun 18, 2006

My unit is short staffed due to an influx of retirements. Its been a non-stop retirement run for the last two years.

There are still few full time positions with the majority being part-time.

I always find it strange that bedside staff, cleaners, etc can be cut but management increases as does their wages. Catering and security has been contracted out. The meals arrive frozen, ready to be microwaved. The security guards are usually geriatric and nowhere to be found (supposedly we can request an escort to the parkade).

It's the way of the world. Management increases and the workers are expected to do more with less.

You do have my sympathies. Right now, teachers are being hit in my region. Loads in university and major layoffs.

debbieuk · Jun 20, 2006

hi,

in my department (theatres) under agenda for change 12 months ago we were all assessed and staff nurses were given a 6 and sisters a 7. now we are being down banded to 5 for staff nurses and 6 for sisters!!!!!

they are cutting sisters posts so there will not be a sister in each theatre, they are changing the job descriptions and we have been told to sign the contract or loose our jobs. we have had unions in and they have been useless. they have just said that at 5.30 we should just go home but how can we do that if a patient is on a table?

they also said that they will support us if we get disaplinary action but who wants that. at the minute we are between a rock and a hard place.

the ironic thing is that our department has paid THOUSANDS to have an outside time management company come in and tell us we are over staffed and we need to sack people !!!!!!!:angryfire

english_nurse · Jun 20, 2006

our agenda for change is completley stuffed up no one is on the right band

my trust has the same problem we are running on such low staffing that if one person is off the whole thing comes crashing down

everyone is fed up

we have no money for staff but money to replace the trees and shrubs growing around maternity unit

what the hell is going on i dont know

all i know is im not proud to tell people what i do for a living anymore

sunnyjohn · Jun 20, 2006

Gosh, I sure hope they straighten things out in the UK quickly. This sounds like a nightmare for you hard working Nurses!

They really should tread carefully as this will come back to bite them in the orifice in 5 years when all the nurses they fire leave the country for greener pastures.

cariad · Jun 21, 2006

i left before agenda for change and nothing ever changes in the uk.

theres never been enough nurses for the patients but theres always been plenty of management and always new posts being created for the staff in the offices.

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Jun 21, 2006

When I left the Uk in december last year, our trust had already been under strain and when people left they were not replaced, plus there was a ban on agency nurses and overtime. The awful thing about it was I worked in Hampshire and we were penalised for coming in under budget but another large trust in the area had over spent by 20 million and we had to have our budget cut to help that trust resolve their money problem. the biggest joke of all was they still advertised jobs where as my trust had a job freeze.

The saddest thing was the student nurses coming out of Soton university had NO jobs, when they qualified.

I had been part of the new grads interviewing process just before the freeze and we desperatly fought for these new nurses' contracts to be honoured.

english_nurse · Jun 21, 2006

its really sad for the students thats what happened to three of our qualifying cohorts, i saw one who had a placement on my ward working in sainsburys the other day

not only is that awful for her it is yet another example of money wastage by idiots looking for short term answers to a long term problem- bad management.

karenG · Jun 21, 2006

in general practice its not too bad........but my sisters hospital has just made all the senior nurses redundant.......and closed 3 wards including the oncology ward..!

who will teach the new nurses the skills they need (and dont get taught in school) now that all the old experianced ones have been sacked??

a friend who is a respiratory specialist (doing a masters in respiratory medicine with me) recently left her job...she was an 8a......the management called in the clinic nurses and they were told one of them had to do the respiratory specialist job but as a 7...... either that or be made redundant. the girl who took the job knows lots about fractures but nothing about respiratory stuff!!

this is scary.........

karen

ukrn2ca · Jun 21, 2006

Just been reading through these posts & it seems it's the same story accross the county's I work in Essex & we are experiencing all of the previously mentioned problems with staff, cut backs & ward closures. we have some excellent teams of nurses that put in extra hours all the time with no thanks it's no wonder many of us are looking to work in other countries, we are a large department and have a team of 32 nurses out of that 2 are near retirment 8 are doing their NCLEX for the move to the US 2 are off to Australia & 1 to Canada then there is myself & anoter just waiting for our green cards & we are off to California in sept, that's almost 1/2 the team leaving by early next year. As someone said before all this upset will come back to bite them. :nono: I just hope it's not more of the same when I get to CA, gess I will just have to wait & see. :uhoh3:

fergus51 · Jun 21, 2006

Trust me, it won't be hard to find work in California!