It begins!

So I had my first day of trust induction today. It was...informative and surprisingly tiring. For those of you that don't know trust induction is all the standard stuff they have to tell you when you start in the NHS such as fire policy, NHS pension other bits and bobs. I had my uniform fitted which is exciting the trousers are hideous and unflattering but I am not there to look good and a dress is an option but doesn't appeal. I popped into my ward area to say hi and it was all smiles and welcoming words, at face value it looks like everyone is quite friendly. So the rest of the week is induction then next week I start as a band 4 'pre-reg staff nurse' until I get my registration which will be in a couple of months. I am told at this trust I will be supernumerary (not counted in the staffing numbers) for a month at this  hospital so we will see how that goes...in past experience supernumerary status is not always 'enforced' in other hospitals so this could be interesting.... 

Nurse Pay

I had a recent twitter disscussion about nurse pay. I started off with the view that if the salary for nurses was too high then it would attract the wrong kind of people.... I have met and know many people who stay in jobs they hate just because it pays well. Then I got slammed by several people disagreeing with me say that I should not accept a low wage just because I enjoy my job and just because 'its a vocation'. Then some people got very personal and suggested that I should quit my training (I have 3 student nurse shifts left then I have finished my training) because I was wrapped up in a romantic notion of nursing and allowed my profession to be undervalued.


I first of all like to point out that I feel there is more to what I am 'worth' than what I am paid. Although the amount of pay reflects your value, I think that in nearly all the proffessions I can think of your amount of pay reflects your responsibility, not nessersaily how hard you work. Nursing is a difficult job and you do have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders, but in my view if you were to compare nursing to another proffession a band 5 nurse is sort of equal to middle management (responsibilites wise, not 'how hard we work' wise). Therefore I do not think the current pay bracket is 'that bad'.

Also this disscussion goes into what you see as 'a lot of money'...because what I may think is a lot of money now may be different to someone elses...

But then it was pointed out to me about pay rises, and comparing the pay rises of nurses to other proffessions over each financial year. Now I definitely agree that if everyone else is getting a pay rise we should get one too. I also now understand that by not giving nurses that pay rise devalues and disrespects the profession. Furthermore nurses should not accept this.

But I do not think you can suddenly say that nurses should earn 'this much' or 'that much'. I think the government should give us pay rises with inflation and when other service providers get pay rises. But unfortunatly we do not have a government that is that 'fair' and in my opinion this government has let the NHS down as a whole not just the nursing proffession. But I think this is different from just demanding extra pay because we work so hard.

I was told that I apparently I may feel differently after I am a 'real nurse' but currently I work really hard and I get paid what I consider a pittence and I feel this way so I am not sure.

Nearly there

So here we go...Final 4 weeks of supervised practice left. It's a good, nervous and exciting thing to think in a few months I will have my pin number (assuming I make it through the next few weeks and I didn't cock up my dissertation). It is also sad because soon I will be leaving the hospital I have been training in for the last three years to join a new trust.

Due to the current structure of the NHS every hospital trust has different paperwork, policies and computer system. Which I will have to get used to along with the pressures of actually qualifying! But then I have made my own bed I chose to move back home with my family rather than stay here, but it may make my life difficult in the long run...

With these crazy mixed feelings I thought I'd ask if anyone had any advice about starting at a new job nursing or otherwise...

Another thing I was wondering is what do people feel about the inconsistencies between hospitals in the NHS? I think the idea is that each trust is catered to the population in the local area that it supports, because statistics have shown that there are regional trends in some illnesses. This recent post by the Kings Fund explains this idea of improvements being made 'from within' will be encouraged from now on. I know that not one size fits all but with these changes how can people know what to expect when they come to hospital. Also improvements made at one hospital may be beneficial to another, but will these suggestions be shared? I understand that the move away from politician to clinician lead organisations is a good idea but I think people value consistency. As mentioned in the Keogh report on emergency healthcare, people are muddled on what service is good for them because it varies across the country.