MuppetAus

Plenty of agency work so you won't have do nights. Some agency's have contracted work for 1-6 months. A little side tip. There is no 'Z' in Australia. It's Aus as in Aussie not ozzie and not even god will be able to help you if you call a female a Sheila.

I 100% agree with your comments. I find the disorganisation infuriating. Every single worker I have spoken to has had documents lost. They to me my first contract and I negotiated the next 3 in the same area myself. I am still employed by them only for the simple fact that I have to be sponsored to work in the UK. I have applied for other jobs and been told I have the job subject to upper management approval because of the need to pay for a sponsorship certificate. Unfortunately because it cost a few thousand pounds management have said no and given me a tale about the economic state at present. The money is a lot less than I was told I would get and like mystifying its the ability to travel Europe and UK, that keeps me here. I've lived in the Oxford accom to and it's equal to uni dorm except this is worse because I'm near the front door and you know drunk people never close a door quietly. If you don't need sponsorship there are one good agency's - Thorbury is the best wage paying one, pulse is well respected and NHSP.

It took about 6 weeks for me to receive mine in Australia. I sent it in around the same time as you last year. They send it second class and you need to take into account they have a rest/sleep/booze up during christmas and new year, so it will probably take longer.

Hi C.Rene I did all the paperwork before I arrived in the UK. It is a long time consuming process and just when you think you have everything you need there will be something else pop up. It will test your patience to the limit. They sent me all the paperwork required for the criminal check. The immunizations if you can't provide dates they will probably want serology to check your immunity. I didn't get any orientation before I started work. The orientation was brief and done by the ward. The ONP is a huge waste of money and time but it is the dance you have to do to work in the UK.

Jhan have you completed your ONP? Some girls I did this with didn't get jobs until they had finished this. I don't know why. I let them believe I had other options and would take them if I wasn't given definant job. I didn't have contacts, but I didn't care where I was sent. My advice would be take where ever they offer and move after your first contract when they know your a go work.

I'm in the UK at the moment and had no problems finding work. I'm with continental travel nurse agency. I had the choice between two different hospitals when I arrived. I have been working over time every week. I average 10 hour overtime. You shouldn't have any problems with pedia specialty. I think the only people who will struggle to find work are those who have less than 5 years experience.

NoleNurse I don't mind being agency. I like that I'm not commited to anywhere. I feel like I have some control over where I am and what I'm doing, and I don't feel I get caught up in the politics of wards/areas. The NHS is pretty similar to the health system where I'm from. One big thing I have noticed is the lack of input and influence the unions have. In Australia you can't blink without unions being involved. Here lunch breaks get shortened and work hours extended and nothing ... no comment from the unions at all. I'm not a big fan of unions but I do think they have there place. My uniform is royal blue scrubs. The permenant nursing staff where the white tops with blue trim.

I was lucky I only had to wait 3 weeks for my PIN but some have had to wait longer. The hospital I work for is happy to check electronic that I'm registered and then bring in the PIN card for offical view but some hospitals will not let people start until the nurse has the PIN card in their hand. I'm into my 5th week now. I'm working in the day chemo suite, so I'm not doing weekends and nights. They work a variety of 8hrs, 10hr and 12 hr shifts depending on the demand of the area. The 12 hr shifts aren't to bad. I find if I keep busy I feel better at the end of the day. It's when there is a quite moment that tiredness kicks in. If you work the 12hrs you get 1hr lunch break. Mostly because it is to difficult to have 2 30min breaks. I wear blue scrubs but the other nurses wear white shirts with blue piping around the collar and sleeve and blue scrub trousers. I wear scrubs because I'm agency (I don't know why). I have had a few moments where I have been unsure that I have made the right move over here. It's little things like familiar routines and procedures. For example where I came from we would use normal saline to flush between each unit of blood and have really frequent obs, but here there is no flushing not even when the bag is finished. It's not wrong just different to what I'm used too.

Thanks :) My PIN has arrived and I have had my first day of orientation. I will post about my experiences when I'm a little more settled. The ONP - the third day is the exam day. You will also hand in your workbook. You will then come back later in the day to get your results and workbook back again, and a brief chat about the course. Migranehead ache it is hard for me to give you an idea of the costs involved because our exchange rates are different. It roughly cost me $4500 but I haven't sat down and worked it out exactly. This didn't include costs once I was in the UK. Such as food, trains and other stuff. I would be super careful taking on a loan there are lots of bad agents out there and you don't know until it is to late.

I would recommend a few years experience to really secure work and if possible specialise in an area. You need to make yourself desireable compared to other job seekers. At the end of the year there will be a massive amount of nurses who have just qualified looking for work so avoid December - March. APHRA will give you all the information you need about the registration process. To be honest I think you will find it difficult to find work with such limited experience. Good luck

Hi, 25,000 Australian dollars will be plenty of money but if you meant 2,500 that wont cover much at all. Not even your flight if it is short notice. The registration process for both the UK and Australia is pretty similar and both frustrating and slow. You will have to take an english language test for both countries. Be very careful about using agents. There was a large group of nurses who came to my hospital a few years back. They had paid a large amount of money with the belief that they would have jobs. But none of them did and a few were even failed registration because their english was so bad or their paperwork was questionable. Some had to go back home because they couldn't afford to stay and look for work. Remember that working in the UK and Australia nurses have a more hands on role than they do in your country. Familes very rarely assist with care, like showers, feeding and dressing. If your not in a hurry I would suggest a few more years experience and try and specialise in a certain area. If you have a specialty it makes it much easier to find work.

Hi Migraineattack, I have finished the ONP with Bournemouth and passed the workbook and the 30 minute multichoice exam. It was pretty easy. I finished my book by the second week. It isn't difficult, but it is time consuming because you spend hours looking things up and then entering what you find into the book. I didn't feel I learnt anything new from the course. The healthcare system seems pretty similar to Australia. Things/programs/systems just have different titles. At present I'm waiting for my PIN from the NMC. I have made the final payment I am just waiting on the card. The waiting is the kiler it just feels like it is taking forever. I should hopefully be able to start work soon. I am working for Continental Travelnurse. So far I have mixed feeling about them. My recruitment office who I first had contact with left. This made things difficult because things we had discussed and organised were not passed on so I had to start again with another person. My biggest whinge would be being forced to have a BCG injection. I was told if I didn't have it they could not guarntee that I would get work. So despite it only being 30% effective for my age group I have had this jab. There have been some problems with disorgainisation on there end but it has been quickly sorted out. They also ask you do to some online training and attend 2 classes about CPR and manual handling. You pay for these. They are basic but it would have been nice to know before hand. I didn't love the 90 pound return train ticket to attend these course. Some of the online training could have been done before leaving Australia. Continental have found accommodation for me when I start work. I don't know what it is like yet but it is close to the hospital. I wil let you know how things are when I'm a few weeks into a job.

Maybe my training was different to yours but there were 30 in a class and there is no way a lecture would have the time to supervise every student administer an IM injection or any other procedure. When were training to draw blood we trained on plastic dummies and then we had one on one supervision by a lecture on that dummy before we could take blood on a human. This process took 3 weeks to clear everyone. We trained on dummies for the IM injections and it was amazing the amount of times the site of the injection was incorrect and the guage of needle was incorrect. This was after paper theory and DVD demonstation. So thank you for your combative response. I'm sure you would be first to shout from the roof tops if there was an adverse event from an IM or other invasive procedure done by and person whose only training was that they were able to inject a fellow student unsupervised.

Notarised means having the original document viewed by either a justice of the peace, police officer, lawyer and there are others but I'm not sure of them all in your country. They view the original and then stamp and sign your photocopy to say it is a copy of the original. This then makes it a legal document and it can not be altered after it has been stamped and signed.

Yes I guess I am snarky and offended about the comment. I'm just blown away by the announcement then the refusal to offer assistance. I guess it's just I would share that information to help others, and I didn't think I was asking anything to personal or identifying