admin – Fitness Finance Life

NMC temporary register

uni April 1, 2020April 1, 2020 by admin

I am a 3rd year nursing student. Since my last post, I have been pulled from my placement so I am ploughing into my assignments

Due to COVID-19, how we complete our degree is changing, it looks like we will go out to practice much sooner and join a temp register.
This temp register is open for students in their final 6 months, this will be me come June and that is when my university is aiming for us to start.

There will be a transition period of 6-8 weeks where we will be paid as band 4’s then we will move on to band 5’s and be paid as such. We will still have student time and assessors/supervisors but we will be counted in the numbers and treated like any other member of staff.

We had the forms through in the last couple of days asking for our details, our trusts, if we opt-in or out etc. It was a 50:50 split in other cohorts. From what we can currently gather Health England are looking to make it compulsory and if you opt-out you end up deferring.
I have decided to opt-in. I have requested my local trust (Health England place you) and I’m hoping I get given my local hospital as the reason I am stopping going to Brighton is due to travel and I’d like to be able to walk to work.

I know of people who want to opt-out and some who want part-time (I want full time) and a who weren’t going to opt-in due to not being able to request her own shifts, now looking to opt-in.
Apparently we will still get annual leave and have other conditions of being a student.

I do and don’t feel ready to be out there. My confidence has grown but there are basic skills I haven’t done yet – catheterisations and wound dressing are two such skills. Well, I have done wound dressings just not many. I also wonder where I will end up working if I get placed on one particular ward I will have to mention my issues to the trust/university as I don’t feel that I will be given the opportunities needed to progress.

In the coming days, weeks and months we will just have to see what happens.

Life goes on…

life March 22, 2020March 22, 2020 by admin

Nothing has really changed for me over the last few weeks, I continue to go to placement, work, and try to shop. The only difference is no NASCAR, slot car racing or Micropubs for a few months. I don’t feel anything different, the days don’t feel any different, I just can’t get a delivery in the next few weeks, I will stay away from the major large supermarkets, shop at local or on the way home from work. I am thankful that I can continue to pay my bills.

I hope everyone is staying safe, too many people are treating this as a holiday. Oh the sun is out therefore I must go out!!

As it currently stands…

life March 19, 2020March 19, 2020 by admin

As it currently stands I am still on placement in Neuro Theaters and loving it. I can cancel the placement if I want to but the uni doesn’t know yet how/when I’ll be able to make up the missed hours & assessments. As I also work as a HCA within the trust I don’t see me cancelling unless I HAVE to. Some placements are contacting the uni to cancel, in neuro theatres, we will continue to have emergency & cancer surgeries but there is talk, like with most trust, about turning recovery into extra ICU beds. ALL electives will be cancelled from 15th April and that just happens to be my last week there.

All uni classes have been cancelled (due back in May) and we only have 1 exam while I can see being online.

There is talk of having nursing student being HCA’s within the hospitals and being paid, that’s a good thing for those not already employed, but I already work a permanent role as well as on the bank. I can see many not wanting to do it, especially those that don’t need to the money. Now if we get the governments £1000 per month ‘wage’ then I’ll be quids in!

Food shopping isn’t as crazy as the media make it out to be but I am avoiding the large supermarkets and going local. Two of my delivery came with half my order missing! I was only trying to do my normal monthly shop. The local micropubs are slowly shutting or reducing to take out only 🙁

I will continue to work through all this and hope everyone stays save during this time

This time next month

uni January 30, 2020January 30, 2020 by admin

Since I last posted about starting to apply for NQN posts, I have been talking to a few people at different trusts and heard back from applications.

29th Feb 2020

WSHT my local trust as a recruitment day at both Worthing & St Richards (Chichester). I have been in contact with someone at St Richards about theatre positions which I am interested in. I didn’t realise that the day would be at both sites so I am trying to find out what positions are available at Worthing currently as I would prefer there to Chichester but I don’t want just any jobs.

19th March 2020

Portsmouth has a recruitment day and I have been asked to tell them the areas I am interested in. I don’t particularly want to work at Portsmouth but if that was where the role is I’ll take it to start.

So far I have yet to hear from Brighton but I haven’t seen any specific NQN recruitment post.

I have been speaking to someone in my cohort who was telling me that cohort 1, who have just qualified, are still waiting for the go-ahead to apply for their pins! So looking like a March start date. Not sure if you can start as a NQN on a band 3 or 4 before you can even apply for your pin or only when you are awating it.

So 2.5 months of nothing, as long as I don’t need to repeat. Apparently one of the modules is really hard and quiet a few in cohort 1 had to repeat and they only got their results yesterday. As long as I can still work as a HCA till March I’ll be fine.

3rd year placements

uni January 22, 2020January 22, 2020 by admin

I’m not one to just wait around, too many times things haven’t been done when they should and delays have happened. Due to this since December 2019 I have been checking our uni cohort placement spreadsheet to see if it was updated.

13th January, it finally looked like things were happening. There was an extra page, even if it was only named ‘sheet 3’ at that point. Excited, I clicked on the page and saw a list of our names next to dates and placement names. I scanned down the page, looking for my name. Finally, I spotted it but my placement was TBC. All but 2 of us had placement confirmed. I am the only one of my cohort in my placement area and assumed, therefore, it was easier to arrange for me. May be due to me going direct to the NHS trust asking for specific placements, there is a delay. I really hope I don’t get a community placement, not many do in 3rd year. In my cohort, there is probably only 4-5, with the rest mostly in ITU.

I start back at uni in just over 1 week and start placement in 5 weeks. I hope it’s not last minute, I know a few last year who didn’t know till like 1 week before.

Getting that job

life uni January 21, 2020January 21, 2020 by admin

I have officially registered onto my final year of nursing, this means I’m a soon to qualify nurse! I can now start applying for roles.

Some people may say it’s too early to be doing this but I know of people who have received job offers in October with a start date of the following September. I see it as more opportunities to land that role, especially if you want to work in a certain area.

I’ve applied to 3 or 4 in Worthing/Chichester, 1 in Brighton, and even one in Portsmouth. I’m just hoping that a job I want comes up, I really don’t see myself in elderly care.

I can’t be that picky though and I will accept pretty much any job. It’s best to have multiple offers rather than none at all.

Not sure if anyone in my cohort has started applying yet. I know some won’t for a while. To think that by March I could have my first role as a NQN!

Author: admin