The NHS needs you – call goes out to nurses who left the profession

[Northerner]

More than 90,000 nurses have dropped off the Nursing and Midwifery Council register in the past five years, and now the NHS is hoping to attract many of them back.

The NMC says the registrations of 91,928 nurses have lapsed since 2009, with 25,725 leaving the profession in the past year alone.

The figures, along with concerns about staffing levels, are the basis of a campaign to encourage nurses to return to the profession. The campaign will begin in the autumn.

http://rcnpublishing.com/doi/full/10.7748/ns.28.39.0.2839996

 

[Mark T]

Like most businesses, the NHS needs to come up with some family friendly working practices. I've got a couple of friends that are only not in the NHS because of the fact it did not work with young children.

 

[Hanmillmum]

I don't think it is just the lack of flexibility that nurses leave, as you do expect to work shifts going into nursing - after all, patients need to be looked after round the clock, not just at our most convenient times of 9-5 (like GP's think, lol). Sometimes shifts suit family life, esp if partners work shifts too. It's the level of responsibility, admin work and lack of time (from being too thin on staff) nurses have to spend caring for people hands on that demoralises the staff. Also, IMO, having management from non-clinical backgrounds (i.e factory management) is a bug bear for staff as they don't feel understood from someone who has never worked the "shop-floor"- they see the health care as a business which needs "x" amount of referrals and various targets met for the £££.

 

[Northerner]

I don't think it is just the lack of flexibility that nurses leave, as you do expect to work shifts going into nursing - after all, patients need to be looked after round the clock, not just at our most convenient times of 9-5 (like GP's think, lol). Sometimes shifts suit family life, esp if partners work shifts too. It's the level of responsibility, admin work and lack of time (from being too thin on staff) nurses have to spend caring for people hands on that demoralises the staff. Also, IMO, having management from non-clinical backgrounds (i.e factory management) is a bug bear for staff as they don't feel understood from someone who has never worked the "shop-floor"- they see the health care as a business which needs "x" amount of referrals and various targets met for the £££.

Agreed. With all that has gone on over the past few years they are going to have to work miracles to attract staff back.

 

[Copepod]

From my days (and nights) of working shifts, it wasn't the odd hours per se that were the problem, but the impossibility of ever being able to guarantee you'd be off duty more than 8 weeks ahead (sometimes much less), which makes it impossible to commit to other important events, such as weddings, races, nights out etc. Sometimes it was possible to swap shifts, but only with people of same grade, which became more difficult the more senior you became. So, bank work was easier, arranged about a week ahead of shift. Sometimes, being off duty during normal working hours was good, meaning places like swimming pools, gyms, parks, museums, supermarkets etc were quieter than at weekends and evenings.

 

[trophywench]

Yes - years ago in a BUPA hospital I met a nurse who I knew used to work at the local NHS hospital. I asked her for what reasons she'd changed.

a) she got more money as the hourly rate was more
b) she got to see all sorts of different medical and surgical probs
c) she got to deal with all age-groups except neo-natal and babies, but children certainly came in for orthopaedic stuff as well as adults
d) all the consultants were more communicative with nursing staff and the learning curve was greater

and all of this made it more varied and interesting, without the major benefit to begin with of being able to organise her life better