Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

Arlo Guthrie — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 14:33:59 GMT

[quote user="Sophie Millar"]Trust me, practices are CRYING out for nurses[/quote]

I'd second that. Here's a quote from an email I had last night from a vet:

... needing registered nurses aka gold dust, fairy farts, hens teeth, rocking horse dung.

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

Sophie Millar — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 14:20:54 GMT

Hi this is not me advertising myself at all I genuinely really feel for you I help VNs get jobs every day and I am apaulled at what some practices offer some of my candidates when I know them and how well they do their job. Some advice from me is vamp up your CV and put yourself out there. Trust me, practices are CRYING out for nurses, and although they may advertise and offer certain salaries - they are desperate. I recently placed a nurse with 8 years experience in a job 26k a year salary with a 2 bed flat AND company car included. All negotiated. Don't let one experience dim the light on the career you once loved (and probably still do).

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

Bear3 — Mon, 04 May 2015 21:57:41 GMT

oops sorry Myrkk, my mistake, I was mixing you up with the op there who earns 21k lol ( smacks head ) Im sure its bloody tough for you earning that little, sorry didnt realise you were a full time student with a part time job, been there and done it and its no fun but fair play to you for doing it, thats all we can do in life is try our best, sometimes we get rewarded for our efforts, sometimes not x

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

myrkk — Mon, 04 May 2015 21:47:37 GMT

I Know I said I was done with this thread but I think 2 points are important. .. I don't earn 20k far from it. I'm a full time student working part time and racking upand now I'll shut up x a nice student debt. I earn less than halfthat. I'm not out for a battle either. Just feel passionately about equality. group hug. We've agreed on stuff before sal in sure we'll agree on more in the future but like you I don't hold my tongue when I feel passionately about something. ..

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

Sal the 1st — Mon, 04 May 2015 21:29:20 GMT

[quote user="myrkk"]I didn't vote for the extra responsibility because as far as I'm concerned we always had it. We now have accountability for our actions and I personally feel I was always accountable for my actions. Now it is simply different I too feel the RCVS and BVNA have handled things badly and have only just gone onto the RVN register as I no longer had a choice. [/quote]

agreed - and whats the betting there will be more that we can agree on? I am not out to start a battle on any of this just saying that not everybody sees things the same way not out to put anybody down either there are some really decent people in this job both vets and nurses who are sharing the same struggles

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

Bear3 — Mon, 04 May 2015 20:25:50 GMT

Thats fair enough, though I have to say if you've jumped from a salary of 12k not that long ago to over 20k now I would call that a fair bit of progress! And yes your right, I should have researched my course more but I was young and silly, and it took me a long time to realise that vet nursing is most what I want to do in life. Peoples circumstances change through the years, your right about that too, but rather than leave a profession you love ( you do love it I assume? ) why not think about getting another job somewhere with a lower cost of living, or would you not want to leave your area? I think vet nursing will always be a low paid vocation, just like lots of other jobs with animals, people go into it for the pleasure of having a rewarding job where no two days are the same, I dont know why there is such a struggle to find qualified nurses as it seems like every person in the world wants to work with animals lol maybe its not so much the low pay that puts people off but the fact that its so bloody hard to do the VN diploma, its either full time at college ( which a lot of people just cant afford ) or get a job in a TP, which depending on what part of the UK your in seems as impossible as living on the moon. I wish you the best of luck anyway whatever you decide to do x

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

myrkk — Mon, 04 May 2015 16:41:20 GMT

I didn't vote for the extra responsibility because as far as I'm concerned we always had it. We now have accountability for our actions and I personally feel I was always accountable for my actions. Now it is simply different I too feel the RCVS and BVNA have handled things badly and have only just gone onto the RVN register as I no longer had a choice.

No one has ever said we should get the same wage as vets, I'm not sure where you got that from. What some of us are saying is that we would like to be paid a living wage commensurate with the job, hours and responsibilities we have. I'm sorry you can't find a job but if we're going to be honest about our lack of compassion for others grumbles then perhaps you should have researched your course better before you decided upon it. Now I'm not the sort of person to say such things normally but I feel that people who find it difficult to live on a nurses wage and work in practices where wages are poor and perhaps work in an area where the wages are artificially low are entitled to their grumbles and entitled to some compassion and empathy regarding them. I don't think it is fair that people jealous of the fact that those nurses have a job they would like should tell them to shut up and put up, or that nurses with a different view on their lives requirements should do so either. Peoples needs for money changes throughout their lives and I work with 3 nurses who are making the hard decision to leave the job they love due to financial issues currently. I find this sad.

There is a huge discrepancy in nurses wages and yes, some of us live on the bread line. I know from my husband being made redundant several times how hard it is to make ends meet on a nurses salary and I was forced to leave the job I loved to take a job with no responsibility that was mind numbingly boring so we didn't lose our home. I earned the grand sum of £12k at that time as a fulltime nurse not that long ago and tbh yes I do feel I was worth more and yes I did grumble about it.

My main point however is, there is a lack of RVN's and wages are a big part of that. When I first qualified girls became VNs then grew up got married, had kids and left. Now people want to make a career out of it it has to change to attract people in and retain them.

Anyway I've said my piece and won't be bothering to say any more.

In frith x

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

Bear3 — Mon, 04 May 2015 13:54:53 GMT

Cheers Sal, I did notice that but its a bit too much in the south of England for me, trying to avoid moving to the most expensive part of the UK lol especially couldnt afford to live down there on a salary like that jesus my last job as a VCA paid about three grand more than that and that was an area of the UK which is not economically in a good way. I dont know why my PM isnt working? Will look into it....

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

Sal the 1st — Mon, 04 May 2015 12:50:58 GMT

http://www.vetnurse.co.uk/jobs/3923/default.aspx

any good to you Bear3? would have done it by PM but doesn't seem to be working?

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

Bear3 — Mon, 04 May 2015 10:33:06 GMT

Two years of college training and a few exams to sit gives you a qualification which means you can take your pick of jobs anywhere in the UK, I have also been to college for two years and sat exams ( unfortunately making the huge mistake of it being animal science not veterinary nursing ) and Im sitting here struggling to find any kind of work never mind what you do. So Im afraid Im a little lacking in tolerance for people who have a job that others would kill for yet still complain about low pay, long working hours etc. Yes you work hard and have a lot of responsibilities but I cant see how you would expect to get paid anywhere near the same as vets, who are at college for 5 years, come out thousands in debt and are performing actual surgery every day. Yes I understand why people with families etc cant just up sticks but the original poster said she was single, no commitments. As for a a lower wage in other parts of the country not necessarily so, I had a reasonable salary in my last job and I was only a vca, Im single with no kids or partners income but I managed fine on the wages I had, certainly wasnt struggling in the way the op describes, but then it all depends on what you class as having a decent lifestyle, some people are happy to get by on far less than others.

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

Sal the 1st — Mon, 04 May 2015 06:23:18 GMT

[quote user="myrkk"]

less than 10% of nurses have bothered to vote in the latest elections, that says a lot to me.

[/quote]

says a lot to me too - it says to me that the RCVS/VN council are failing to engage with over 90% of the people who were eligible to vote - and that to me is pretty damning.

I didn't vote - and I didn't vote because I feel as though I have been absolutely shafted by the whole rotten lot of them. I don't feel that they are working in the best interests of veterinary nursing, if I had voted it would have meant me granting some credibility - and they lost that a long time ago with me.

[quote user="myrkk"]Yes I know there are a great many people struggling out there but how many of them are Professionals with the responsibility we have? [/quote]

but don't forget this is the responsibility so many of you craved and were fighting for - you wanted it and you got it - I don't ever recall there were any promises made to anybody of higher wages for taking it on, many may have assumed that this would happen but it was never at any stage promised - and for those of us that didn't want it because we could see exactly where it was heading- well we never got a choice, so thanks for that.

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

myrkk — Sun, 03 May 2015 23:58:38 GMT

Lets just take the original poster out of the scenario for a moment.

What if you have a family and just can't up sticks, you have children in school, a partner with a job, a mortgage.

What if you up sticks to this less economically flush area of the country with lower living costs, do you not think the wages will also be reflected in this and therefore be lower. Do you not think that you may then be stuck in this area of the country unable to afford to move back to a more affluent area of the country

Do vets not do the job for the love of animals too? Why is it ok for them to expect a living wage but an RVN shouldn't?

I'm afraid it is this naïve outlook as to what a nurse should put up with that keeps us in the dark ages. The last e-mail I had showed that less than 10% of nurses have bothered to vote in the latest elections, that says a lot to me. Too many people who are happy to allow the status quo to continue whilst those of us who live in the real world and actually do want to be able to afford a car, a night at the cinema and not have to compromise on heating and food or else have a partner in a job that earns enough to allow us to live, fight to change things.

Yes I know there are a great many people struggling out there but how many of them are Professionals with the responsibility we have? However, I am fed up of apologising and having to pussy foot around the fact that actually I, in the words of L'Oreal, am worth it, as is every other RVN out there. Yes I do my job for the love of the animals but I also love me enough to care about my quality of life too.

I'm afraid it is the vain hope that things would change that have kept me in the profession for nearly thirty years and it is the eventual realisation that while nurses are happy to put up with the poor wages, conditions etc things will never change that have led to me re-training to leave nursing. It will be sad day for me when I do walk out the Practice doors that last time but I know I am doing the right thing for me.

I recently had a nurse chastise me for my pessimistic view of how slowly the nursing profession was changing and how I should be happy to be a nurse... rather rich given she herself had just left the profession to be a human nurse because the wages are better and there is more career structrure/progression.

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

Bear3 — Sun, 03 May 2015 22:38:37 GMT

To the original poster - I feel for you, your wage is shockingly low for the part of the country you're in, at least you are a RVN, you can get work anywhere in the UK, would you not consider moving to somewhere with a lower cost of living? So many people ( myself included ) would give their right arm for a job in a practice where they could actually get qualified, if a low salary was the price then Id happily pay it, working with animals in any capacity other than a vet is something that most people do for the love of the job, not for the money. Every animal job Iv ever had has been minimum wage or not much more but Id take that over a better paid but mind numbing factory or call centre job any day!

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

Sal the 1st — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 08:35:59 GMT

I am sorry but I do say it how I see it - and maybe I don't always say it in the best way. If somebody is trying to help themselves then I will absolutely do my damndest to help them if I can. I was taught ,and this has stood me in very good stead over the years, that everybody is entitled to moan so long as they bring something productive (a positive suggestion) to the table. When I started reading comments along the lines that all vets are rolling in it and all vet nurses are poor - first it made me feel angry because I know plenty of vets where this isn't the case and they will go without to make sure their staff are paid , and equally nurses where that statement wouldn't apply -and then it made me feel sad'. Sad because there are some good bosses out there that are being lumped in with the bad ones , and sad because once somebody gets into the mindset that all bosses are the enemy it starts to affect your work- whether you like it or not it will affect the way you work, think that way long enough and you stop caring (and we are after all a 'caring' profession) and that doesn't just affect you but those you work with and the practice you work in. Hope that clarifies

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

vickicannings — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 17:34:58 GMT

[quote user="Sal the 1st"]I applaud anybody who looks past a problem for a possible solution (including the OP) but the people who just carry on doing what they have always done and whose only action is to moan about the hand life has dealt them and are hoping for the answer to come to them rather than going out to find it then I do get a little short on sympathy.[/quote]

But is that not what a forum is for? So that we can support each other to make these decisions? If you don't have the sympathy then don't read the thread. People come on here looking for someone to talk to not someone to make them feel bad. Jesus your ignorant comments made me so bloody angry and not for the first time. I'm done with this website.

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

Sal the 1st — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 19:10:35 GMT

and that would be true I do grumble - but then I do something about it, I either accept what I have or find somewhere else that supplies what I want.

[quote user="myrkk"]If you do what you've always done you'll get what you've always gotten. I don't think grumbling about things will ever change a thing [/quote]

and that's true too - I applaud anybody who looks past a problem for a possible solution (including the OP) but the people who just carry on doing what they have always done and whose only action is to moan about the hand life has dealt them and are hoping for the answer to come to them rather than going out to find it then I do get a little short on sympathy.

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

myrkk — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 17:17:45 GMT

so what you're saying is we should just accept our lot and not try and better things? I don't think veterinary medicine works like that I'm afraid.

If you do what you've always done you'll get what you've always gotten. I don't think grumbling about things will ever change a thing but I do think Veterinary Nurses have the get up and go to go and change things... look how far nursing has come! Everyone has a right to a grumble now and then... I'm sure you do.

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

Sal the 1st — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 21:28:51 GMT

This is starting to annoy me a bit, I just think some of us need to realise that it isn't only veterinary nurses - many people are going through the same (and professionals amongst them). Everybody has choice - the choice to do this job or to find a more a financially rewarding job. I have done a few different jobs to tide me over when I have been between positions or at college. Factory work pays well, its mind numbingly boring watching fish fingers go down the line but the pay is good, topping pizzas ditto, filleting fish I wouldn't recommend but they were the best wage packets I ever had and stitching knickers for M+S (well it had its moments) -if its money you want then there are plenty of jobs that pay better. I know its hard for people and its no easier for me or anybody else I know but this isnt exclusive to vet nurses you just have to decide what is more important to you in life and go that route

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

myrkk — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 18:05:16 GMT

The difference is the vets know there will be light at the end of the tunnel, as nurses our wages are pretty much out of our control unless we manage to land a job with a good boss.

I actually think back to when I was training and nurses were going out on strike for better wages and I remember thinking they should be content with their lot we don't get into this job for the money. Now, with a house to fund, a car to fund for the ooh's and unsociable hours, food to buy etc etc I understand entirely why they did it. We should not, as a profession, be in such a situation.

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

Sal the 1st — Sun, 12 Apr 2015 19:34:17 GMT

[quote user="oconnoan"]we obviously didnt get into this thinking it was a high earning profession, but we deserve a basic standard of living! does anyone think that our bosses go without heating, or have to scour the gone off produce in supermarkets to eat?[/quote]

Actually I can name quite a few who have when they have been setting up their own practices - wages are not always the minimum the boss can afford to get away with but in some cases the most they can afford. I'll grant you there are some scrooges out there but there are also some decent bosses out there too who try to do their very best for those they employ- how about we give them some credit for their efforts.

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

oconnoan — Sun, 12 Apr 2015 18:10:06 GMT

we obviously didnt get into this thinking it was a high earning profession, but we deserve a basic standard of living! does anyone think that our bosses go without heating, or have to scour the gone off produce in supermarkets to eat?

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

oconnoan — Sun, 12 Apr 2015 18:04:40 GMT

nurses need to unionise! we are prob the only profession that spend 3 years in college to come out working 40+hour weeks on minimum wage at unsociable hours with a high level of responsibility!

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

nightowl — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 07:39:59 GMT

Hello, I hear you completly. Sounds very Sad and alone. BUT I have been down this road and Yes exactly like yourself , on my own. questioned what the hell I was thinking going into this profession. But I am still in it.

Have you thought of moving to other fields of the profession. doing some locum work at local clinics . sat morning shifts. Or even try working for a charity just to help in short term. or even do one day a weekend for a marks and Spencer or any other supermarket. found every little bit helped . You sound like a very hard working person and thinking of others all the time. Maybe it is time to step up the mark and have a chat with the boss.

Good luck

And yes many will not say it but you are not alone. common thoughts of a VN. Good luck.

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

enigmaticat-uk — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 18:09:04 GMT

Ultimately the only person who can decide how important the £ vs job satisfaction is you. It's not unreasonable to want a decent wage but I think there's a lot of folk around the country struggling in many occupations and we just have to do the best we can to survive and hope for things to improve longer term. Personally I can't imagine doing anything else but I'm not in the same position as you so all I can do is try to suggest some things to help with money issues if you stick with nursing.

If you have a spare bedroom you could take in a lodger? My sister split with her partner of 11 years and didn't want to lose her home so she let out 2 spare rooms so she could keep up with the mortgage payments on her own.

My local Tesco sells produce (usually veg and bakery stuff) really cheap after approx 7:30pm - I can buy 10 bananas for 20p, bag of spuds for 10p, a pepper for 6p.... you can't rely on specific things each day but I go along and grab what I can and then decide what to cook. Maybe some of your local supermarkets do something similar. Ignore best before dates completely. Ignore use-by dates for things like fruit & veg, cheese as long as it looks fine and smells fine then it IS fine. Cook in batches and freeze portions.

I am really stingy with my heating as I grew up without any - it only goes on if I am still cold under a duvet with jumpers & wooly socks on (& I live in Scotland!). Turn off lights as much as possible. I reduce the amount of washing I need to do as if I'm staying home in the evening I go straight to PJs so I skip a whole load of normal clothes needing washed.

Sorry I don't really have any happy answers for you. Good luck.

RE: Considering leaving nursing because cannot live forever on wage

Gemma Clinch — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 16:37:30 GMT

Have you considered locuming? Better wage and hours are flexible depending on what suits you.