My Recruiting Blog

Often working long hours and having to deal with a shortage of staff, being a nurse is most certainly not an easy job. For many the rewards of assisting others in need balances the cons of the career. Still, no amount of human goodwill can take away the fear that job insecurity can cause.

The Royal College of Nursing, which represents nurses through out the United Kingdom and is the largest single nursing union in the world, recently conducted a survey of its members and found that the morale of nurses is at the lowest it has been in the last ten years. The results of the poll showed that many UK nurses are worried about the possibility of losing their jobs in London, the state of training, and job progression. It was also found that more than a quarter of the country's nurses still have to taken on a second job just so that they can be able to pay the bills.

The survey also found that 55% of nurses feel that they have too much work to allow them to offer the quality of care that they feel is deserved by their patients. Because of this 58% of nurses polled stated that they work seven more hours than they are contracted for a week.

At this time only 49% said that they would recommend nursing as a career. This figure is down 7% since only two years prior. Much of this has to do with the fact that many UK nurses feel they are not being offered adequate continued training. Only 45% of nurses polled said that they are able to take the time off to participate in continuing professional development (CPD) courses.

Despite the long hours and extra efforts that UK nurses are putting forth, 87% feel that they are underpaid when their profession is compared to other careers. Aside from being paid far too little and working too much, many nurses are beginning to fear for their London jobs. When the last poll was conducted by the Royal College of Nursing in 2005, 71% of nurses stated that they felt their careers offered job security. The most recent poll found that only 34% of these individuals still felt this way.

These general feelings of unhappiness have prompted many nurses to wish they could leave their healthcare jobs all together. The survey found that one out of every four nurses would quit and find a different sort of job if they were able to.

Hopefully these statistics will prompt a change in the way nursing the in UK is handled. When nurses feel overworked and under appreciated the quality of care given to patients declines and the entire hospital suffers.

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