Adastra

The point of him taking his case to appeal was that the Trust had written a policy banning male clinical staff from carrying out procedures on a female patient alone. They had made no provision for equal treatment of staff. The reason he won is that the Trust should have created a policy which was about the patient's choice. The patient should and must be given the opportunity to choose who they want to perform intimate procedures. As a nurse I always gained consent and asked the patient if they were happy for me to proceed regardless of whether they were a man or woman. As a patient, I know I would rather have a woman perform intimate procedures on me. I have heard female patients state they had felt violated after these procedures were performed by male staff, but felt powerless to refuse, so patient choice is paramount. A while ago, I was involved in the disciplinary hearing of a student who was eventually removed from training for the sexual assault of a female patient. Whilst the patient was happy with the outcome, she would not allow the police to take it further and would not give evidence. He was removed from his course and barred from training as a nurse, but as student nurses were no longer part of th professional register, he could not be permanently struck off. In the recent case, the Trust may have been acting from the view that sexual predators are more likely to be men and more likely to enter professions where they will have access to vulnerable women. Whilst I can see their point of view, I can also see that "tarring everyone with the same brush" is pretty diabolical and that is why consent and patient choice is so important. As for the NHS, the lies that have been told regarding levels of clinical staff improving are unbelievable. I have worked recently in nurse education and in strategic management. As a result I left and will never return to the NHS. The SHA I worked for managed to waste £14million on consultation for a new hospital. They were paying about 30 contract staff an average of £14,000 a year even though they had left. They referred to registered nurses as idiots quite openly and believed we could all be replaced with HCAs as we were a drain on resources. The happily regraded all of us who were new (an nurses, coincidentally) using agenda for change. We came into work on the Monday and were handed letters by HR personnel, who had decided what grade they thought we should be on. There was no process followed or no job matching. We were all just downgraded. I'm happily away from it now and working part-time whilst I set up my own business.

My first thoughts from reading your post is that you are not yet psychologically ready to "go it alone". One possibility for you if you want to work for yourself but might not be ready for the move is franchising. Another possibility may be to work part-time for a steady income whilst building your own business in the hours you are not working for an employer. If you believe owning & running your own business is the way to go then it is very good that you are thinking of the qualities you need and what kind of business would suit the skills and experiences you have. You can also never do too much research of the right kind before embarking on a venture. About 2 years ago, due to a lot of circumstances I decided to set up a training company (being as I am a nurse and also a qualified & experienced trainer & lecturer) - I had been wanting to do it for about 10 years, however, I was in a position where I had no job so sort of took the plunge so to speak. I did business courses, had a business mentor, did the market research, secured some funding, created a limited company & set up and office, secured contracts and then failed spectacularly when the contracts were cancelled due to NHS training funds being pulled. I lost everything - house, income, friends and was eventually declared bankrupt. I have not been deterred! The taste of freedom to be my own boss was too great despite not being successful. I worked so had and had such a lot of material and have been determined to learn from the things that went wrong. I'm using some of the training packages to create a book. I now have a part-time job and I am just re-launching this business (because I love training, coachig & advising) but on a much smaller scale, working out of a spare bedroom in my home. It will not be my main source of income so I can build slowly. I've also incorporated skills I have such as being a careers advisor for nurses and coaching skills that I've developed during my time as a nurse manager & mentor. I've built my own website using a template and will be doing most of the marketing materials myself. My advice: 1) You need to ensure you are in an emotionally strong place before you start. I'd always thought as a nurse I should be able to "cure myself" emotionally. On the advice of a few people I went to see a counsellor (I think they're called therapists in the US); best thing I have done for my own emotional well being. 2) Make a list of all the strengths you have, both personally and in nursing - anything you are good at doing and enjoy doing. If you set up business in an area you enjoy it will not seem like work and you will build on your own enjoyment of it thus creating success. 3) Try and align yourself with positive, like-minded people. People close to you can often be very negative and this is mostly out of fear for you because starting your own business is very risky. Your husbands advice to "be all you can be" is wonderful. Write it down and have it as your personal motto. Seek out nurse entrepreneurs locally to you and join any groups they may have. In addition, you could join a local women's business group or forum as although they may not be nurses, they will be able to give you some insights into the requirements and help you to avoid any pitfalls. There are also many online forums where budding entrepreneurs can post about setting up alone and you can loads of info this way. 4) Going it alone is fine, but support is always helpful. I don't have a partner or spouse, however I am quite a strong character when it comes to my work, but I am not pushy. I have aligned myself with people who know how to sell and also applied for my part-time job because it involves a significant amount of cold-calling and negotiating, but in a relatively safe environment (I get paid regardless). It has given me the opportunity to learn skills I can then bring to and use in my own business. I've also collected names & contact details of people I know who could do work for me on a freelance basis should I get the the point of having to expand. 5) You mentioned the area you live in does not seem conducive to a nurse oriented business. I would suggest taking a trip to the local library or business information centre and looking at your local population in a bit more depth. Find out what is needed in your area which is nursing orientated and the match your business to it, whilst keeping within you skills, abilities and passions. I hope this is helpful. Let me know what you think.