Thinking of moving to UK

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Hi! I'm obviously new here. My DH and I have been discussing a move to the south UK for some time. We currently live in Northern California. His parents are from Liverpool and Manchester. We have family all over Britain.

I'm just wondering how I go about getting licensed to work in the UK. I've done 5 1/2 years neonatal intensive care at a very well known hospital here.

Where do I start?

Thanks for any info.

L

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

I am going to roughly double my wage from what I get here in the UK

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Interesting -tell me more. I have read quite a few posts from UK nurses that describe horrible working conditions. Where are the good jobs?

My job as a practice nurse has excellant working conditions although the pay isn't as good as it could be. They are very supportive in training and can even go to dentist or own GP's/Consultant in their time. They also pay for staff and partners christmas meal and approx 3 times a year closes the surgery for an afternoon and treat us to either bowling and a meal or just a meal. I can't complain just moving to the US to try something different and face a bit of a challenge, plus I double my pay with the move

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Specializes in med/surg.

Well I bagsied Tanvi's job first!!!:icon_biggrin:

Although I have to confess I do have good working conditions. I work in a private hospital with a good nurse to patient ratio (usually), plenty of variety, great colleagues, friendly atmosphere etc but bottom end NHS pay!

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Specializes in ICU, midwifery, Nurse Practitioner.
Interesting -tell me more. I have read quite a few posts from UK nurses that describe horrible working conditions. Where are the good jobs?

Hi

Im what they like to call nowadays "modern matron" (I never chose the name lol), and independent nurse prescriber so had to work a few years to get to this point in my career. Im on the top of pay scale 8 with 2 discressionary points so my annual salary is actually £46,900, which at current US exchange rates works out to about $91,924. If we decide to go back to the US (which is looking unlikely at this point), my salary in the Bay area will be $52,416, hence the reluctance. I am very lucky in that I really enjoy my job here in the UK. Im primarily based in primary care, although some of my work does involve the odd few hours in hospitals. That is where the problems lie. There are severe staff shortages which leads to poor moral etc, etc. I dont see that in my job. I work with a happy bunch of people, sure we have the odd grumble, who doesn't but generally things are pretty good. Ive worked in Australia where things are pretty similar to here in the UK, they have staff shortages too as do the US. Ive seen some pretty horrendous tales of woe from American nurses about their working conditions etc, especially ICU, so I certainly dont see the US as all milk and honey like some people do. Yes I love the country and the people (my husband is one of them), Im just not sure that working there is for me. I almost see it as a step backwards. My nurse prescribing is not recognised. I have two degress and a masters, my midwifery degree is not recognised, I would have to jump through hoops to get my MSc. recognised, whereas in Australia, its just a matter of getting a few certificates notorised and filling in an online application for a visa, all of which can be completed in less than 4 months. No exam, no burocrasy, and I get virtually the same pay and can use all my skills. ;)

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Specializes in ICU, midwifery, Nurse Practitioner.
That has to do 100% with the contract that you signed. Average rate of pay in the Bay Area is about $100,000 per year, and I am sure that you were not getting that in the UK.

I am very close to that pay if you use current conversion rates and taking into account the high price of living in the Bay area (my husband used to live in Emeryville so he pretty much knows how much things cost there), I am actually WAY better off finincially here in the North of England. Yes, sure some parts of the States are cheaper to live, like WA state which was DH's home for over 20 years but certainly not in San Francisco.

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Specializes in Advanced Practice, surgery.

I work in a similar role to Tanvi but in an acute hospital, I too am a nurse prescriber but don't earn quite as much (haven't been banded yet with Agenda for change) I am top H grade which gives me about £32,000 pa.

Although there are some appalling conditions in the NHS I am very lucky and work in a very supportive area and love my job and the people I work with.

Having said that there is little recruitment opportunities for overseas nurses, within my trust we would not be allowed to consider anyone if there is a UK nurse qualified and able to to the job. THere are areas where there are job freezes and CNS and senior nurses are being asked to work as ward nurses to fill the deficit.

I trained late 80's and remember a similar situation then, things improved and have deteriorated and I know this is something Madwife says but in the NHS it does seem to be cyclical so I suppose we need to just wait to see what happens.

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Curlygirls - a bit of advice: start your registration with the NMC as early as humanly possible. I'm an American RN recently moved to London w/ my husband for his work. The transition was rather hasty and I didn't start the licensing process with the NMC until I arrived here in Feb (of 2007). The NMC has warned me that it will take 4-6 months to simply get licensed, but I'm starting to think that's aggressive. It is taking forever to go through this process. Someone mentioned the numerous hoops one has to jump through to become an RN here, and it's absolutely true.

I left San Fran - as an ICU nurse in a trauma center and it nearly broke my heart. I'm missing work so much right now and am trying not to become too frustrated with the slow and painful NMC processes.

I think it's great that you're considering a move - living out of your comfort zone is always a good thing. Just do your homework before you leave.

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Specializes in Emergency.

Just to give a little balance to the UK salaries mentioned by other posters here.... The Royal College of Nursing figure for the average UK RN salary is £24,841.... This is near the top of the Band 5 pay scale, which includes most nurses, outside of advanced or (junior) managerial roles...

http://www2.rcn.org.uk/campaigns/pay_2007

http://www.rcn.org.uk/agendaforchange/payconditions/pay/pay2006.php

Something to consider after the immigration/registration difficulties involved...

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Specializes in ITU/Emergency.
Not all nurses have bad working conditions or pay in the UK you know. I am making way more here in England than I will be making if I ever go the the US. I have a job lined up in San Fransisco and my pay there is over 20% LESS than I make here, plus the living costs in the Bay area are way in excess of the North of England. Yes, sure the weather can be pretty dismal here, but my husband is from Seattle and their weather is much the same as ours, in fact we have WAY less rain, trust me on that one. :uhoh3:

I think your story is the exception rather than the rule. I don't think many nurses in the UK have such a happy story to tell, unfortantly!

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Specializes in Advanced Practice, surgery.
I think your story is the exception rather than the rule. I don't think many nurses in the UK have such a happy story to tell, unfortantly!

You are quite but not everyone has a sad tale to tell either, my situation is similar to Tanvi's, I love my job and have similar support from my colleagues and have a fairly good wage.

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

Hey!

I can so no way on Gods earth how you can compare The North Of England to USA. And lets face it- the NHS is a mess. I do not understand how someone who is a Modern Matron can reccomend nursing here IF ,and that is IF, staffing levels, levels of cleanliness etc are similar to the hospital I work in. We do not value nurses in this country. What percentage of nurses are actually on band 7s or 8s? I was a clinical nurse specialist (G grade)and was given a band 6 for my efforts.

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Specializes in Advanced Practice, surgery.

Miss Woosie, you are obviously and understandable very upset over your banding I assume you appealed, but I take it that you checked and signed that you were happy with your job description before it was submitted for matching. All of my staff made sure that the job description submitted were updated before submission and corresponded to the appropriate profile for the job they were doing. This meant that they got a fair banding.

It would be difficult and wrong to compare hospitals because each trust is very different but I and I am sure that Tanvi can only speak from our own expereince. I hvae found the NHS has been very good for me I have been fortunate in getting support for study and worked in well funded and well staffed units.

As I say I can only speak from my own experience and on that I wouldnt want to work or nurse anywhere else.

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