US RN moving to London UK

C. Southern, ADN, ASN · Sep 30, 2020

39 minutes ago, invalidcharacters said:

I have been following this thread too... the nurses who have moved to the UK seem to be trying to convince *themselves* that is was a good choice. If you access your intuition, you will find that it is not a good idea. First, the pay is dismal. Second, you lose the benefit of however much experience you have. Third, you lose your connections. Fourth, the cost of living *is* higher in the UK than the US. Really read this threads. People talking about ... you'll have to start at a lower band despite your experience... you'll make 1800 monthly... you'll have to public transportation... you'll have to work night shift and weekends...no thanks. The US may be devolving but I didn't go to nursing school and work my fingers to the bone for the past eight and a half years to start over as a new grad, get paid 1800 per month, and live in a bad part of town. Maybe if I *was* a new grad, it wouldn't be so bad. But I'm not.

There is more to life than money and status. Some of us moved for other reasons besides the pay as well. To each his own I guess. It is cool to experience nursing outside the boarders of the US

rajan2 · Sep 30, 2020

I joined this thread because I feel that there is much to learn from people who share the same goal-desire to move overseas and seeking some direction to complete this process. I have received valuable information to assist me in fulfilling my dream.

And I thank the people who have taken the time out of their busy schedule to give encouraging, clear, and factual information on the process of moving overseas.

I hope this thread does not get sidetracked with comments that do not relate to the main topic.

I think we all make choices based on our individual wants and needs. For some, money is the driving force in most or every decision that they make. While others make decision with money as a secondary factor.

Please let us continue to respect the choices that each other makes.

invalidcharacters · Sep 30, 2020

3 hours ago, C. Southern said:

There is more to life than money and status. Some of us moved for other reasons besides the pay as well. To each his own I guess. It is cool to experience nursing outside the boarders of the US

I was talking to Bethany...

rajan2 · Oct 1, 2020

21 hours ago, C. Southern said:

There is more to life than money and status. Some of us moved for other reasons besides the pay as well. To each his own I guess. It is cool to experience nursing outside the boarders of the US

I concur! Money should not be the driving force in every decision that we make. I look forward to learning nursing outside of the US as well, and experience different cultures. There has been valuable feedback from people who has been or going through this process of moving to the UK to work as nurses. I hope that we keep the thread focused on learning and uplifting each other.

Where are you in your journey? I am currently preparing for my CBT which I hope to take in 3 weeks (tops). I am taking the Mental Health Exam and can hardly find study material in anything other than Adult Nursing.

yam, BSN, RN · Oct 13, 2020

Hi everyone! Posting on this thread because it is relevant to my plans of moving to London from the US beginning of 2021. A recruitment agency is in the process of sending my CV to employers. I believe there is a big recruitment event with several hospitals, so I do not have specifics about jobs (bit anxious) and cannot seem to find specifics about average nurse to patient ratios in England.

Currently work in Progressive care where the ratio is 4:1 staffed and 5:1 if we are short staffed. It is still so busy with acuity, discharges and admits.

I hope to work in intermediate care if it is available, or if hospitals are willing to train start a career in ICU (perhaps may be stuck in COVID land?). I'd like to know average ratios if you're able to share. I've read some forums where ratios are 10 or more and that terrifies me.

I'd appreciate any info!

Yamilet

DavidFR, BSN, MSN, RN · Oct 20, 2020

As a Brit (who now lives in France) I'll add my two penn'orth regarding the fears people have expressed over wages and cost of living.

The cost of living varies dramatically in different parts of the UK.

In London I knew staff nurses living in desperate houseshares in bad parts of town. In Bolton (north-west England) many single staff nurses were buying their own houses comfortably. It's that different.

Do your homework about the area you want to go to. Look at local papers online to suss out house prices and average rentals.

Living in London is exciting, especially if you're young, but don't expect to be able to live in a palace, especially if you're single. A small provinicial northern town may give you the oportunity to live in a comfortable home, but you won't have the excitement of being in a fast, cosmopolitan, capital city. Sadly you can't have cake and cream.

I echo the sentiments above about money not being everything. There are other motivations for experiencing another country. I gave up a comfortable home and a solid career to come and experience France. Nobody comes to France to get rich, and I lived in some tiny places at the beginning. But I got the experience of living in Paris and the joy of doing things and meeting people I'd never have done back home and that is priceless. Adjusting to a different culture and in my case learning a new language was such an enriching experience. If you have that itch in your heart you just have to scratch it and go for it.

Two things could happen - either you'll at some point go back home having had a wonderful experience even if you didn't make much money and lived in something you wouldn't have accepted at home. Or you'll stay, integrate, your career will progress and you'll at some point be able to afford decent housing, especially if you end up in a couple with somebody.

To those who try it, good luck!

rajan2 · Oct 20, 2020

@DavidFR. Thanks so much for your insightful post. My reasons for moving from the US to the UK is so much of why you moved to France.

Enjoy the experience!

At first I thought about the living in London because of the same things you mentioned-"fast, cosmopolitan, capital city." At 46 years old, I quickly realized that living out of the city, in my own space, making a decent living is a win, win. Then I can travel to the city when I want to. I visited Luton briefly in February and kinda like the area as it seems more affordable. What do you think about Luton?

Also do you have suggestions for affordable cities a hour or so from London?

I have received so much resistance about moving to a country that pays RN "way less" than the US, even to the point of people thinking that I am not "thinking clearly." My response is always, If not now, when?

Your post was very uplifting.

Thank you,

Georgia

DavidFR, BSN, MSN, RN · Oct 21, 2020

Hi Georgia,

I don't really know Luton. Maybe others here can help? I actually lived in London itself. At first I lived in hospital accommodation but later on I was in a senior position and in a couple so accommodation costs weren't really an issue. As a single staff nurse it may be different.

There are many other cities worth considering that don't have astronomical accommodation costs. For example I grew up in Lincoln which has very low housing costs. A small city but with enough cultural interest in terms of history, cinema, theatre etc. and like you say, you get to a certain age where you don't want to be out clubbing every night. I arrived in London at 23 so it was wildly exciting and I didn't mind living in a grotty room in hospital accommodation. At 57 I want different things out of life and I'm happy with the small French town I live in.

I would say London is great but isn't the be all and end all and a smaller town may give you more of a taste of the real England. I trained in Plymouth (South West) and had a wonderful 3 years though not at all the London or Northern experience. I would say each region has its something different to offer.

Best of luck in your venture!!

Amelia Smith · Oct 27, 2020

On 4/18/2020 at 1:31 AM, app22 said:

I went through the NHS website. Many people have had great experiences going through an agency but I wanted to try doing it on my own since I won't need help with my visa since I'll be getting a visa through my husband and his job will pay for it. I also felt like I had done enough research and had found a great facebook group that gives good advice about this process. If I started to have more trouble finding a job then I would definitely have considered an agency though!

This is good to know. Incase that happens, you should definitely check out Global Nurse Jobs. It is a new direct recruitment platform for nurses to be hired into the NHS. All you need to do is apply there instead of going through other agencies. This is the link: www.globalnursejobs.com.

heyred823, BSN, RN · Oct 29, 2020

On 10/27/2020 at 5:02 PM, Amelia Smith said:

This is good to know. Incase that happens, you should definitely check out Global Nurse Jobs. It is a new direct recruitment platform for nurses to be hired into the NHS. All you need to do is apply there instead of going through other agencies. This is the link: www.globalnursejobs.com.

Hey Amelia,

Could you provide a little more info? Is it an agency? Are foreign nurses who need sponsorship for a visa welcome to apply? Did you use it to find a job?

I went to the website, but it didn’t have a whole lot of information available without signing up.

Thanks in advance!

Vivian Yue · Dec 12, 2020

On 9/16/2020 at 2:40 PM, Iloveogurachicken said:

Ahh, I’m so happy to hear this. Congratulations! I am currently in the middle of applying to ABSNs and hope to work in the UK someday. I’m glad they will accept. I also wonder if they might accept new grads. It would be awesome to be able to go to the UK straight away if I could!

Hi heyred823

We have sent many messages before about ABSN to the UK. And it turned out that it was accepted.

I just want to know how you were doing with your process? Did you pass your exams?

I wanted to continue our messages but I couldn't. haha and I mistakenly clicked the wrong button. sorry

Hope you are doing well.

Maydiel · Jan 16, 2021

I am a RN in Miami, Florida since 2014 with a solid background a Telemetry nurse. I am looking information how to endorse my license to UK since I don’t have much information about this process

Any nurse that have already done this transition from US to Uk give me some advice what to do, how to do it , and a breed story about their experiences?