Nursing in the UK
I have had enough of being a nurse. I have been in the game now since 1997 and have worked my butt off for ten years in medical admissions, theatres, intensive care specialising in neurology and cardiac. I have worked all over the country and hopefully made a difference in countless peoples lives.... for what???

Poor poor pay (I am a male and the main bread winner for a family with 3 kids) ain't happening.

Horrendous conditions i.e. poor practice, lack of staff, abuse from patients as well as staff, unsafe environment, ridiculous pressure from managers and above, lack of appreciation, inability to perform to my full potential due to low staffing and other constraints, crap doctors (and nurses), severe LACK of knowledge from staff, massive sickness rate, disgusting hygiene, SERCO SUCK, no perks, no rewards, no support, no career progress, no ethics, no moral, all of this is has steadily worsened over the 10 years of my working as a nurse.

We are getting sacked, frozen posts, working overtime unpaid claiming time back but cannot claim it back, running theatre lists on horrendous staffing levels, watching mistake after mistake and I keep thinking and praying my family or myself never ever have to come into hospital.

The media and pr industry try their hardest to ensure we and the public do not take full notice of the steady decline and ensure we cannot or do not UNITE and make a stand to battle the bull s*&t.

The RCN are such a complete waste of time and money, government lap dogs who fight like wet sponges, consider only themselves as a coorporation, are so slow and behind the times beacause they are OLD OLD OLD nurses submissive to the male authority figure and no idea or interest in fighting the ground forces corner. Man they wind me up, we need a proper union with balls of steel to stand and make a real battle for us.

But lets not forget, we as nurse get no recognition or support from the government due to them being pedominantly MALE and nurses FEMALE so they think, hmmmm, they are caring by nature with their maternal instinct, why pay them, they should do this out of the kindness of their heart.

The government suck, patricia hewitt sucks, the rcn sucks and the nhs sucks big time. Oh and by the way, forget about any other party making a difference, you vote means nothing in the future of the nhs. All my friends are leaving either nursing or the country and I am next, fingers crossed NZ here we come. Students, why train to enter a profession where if you look at recent history will not offer you anything but a life of stress, no future, no stability, sheesh you cannot even get a job once you have completed your degree, madness.

I appreciate others may not agree with my opinion but most do in the hundreds of nurses I have come into contact with. There are exceptions, that one patient who reminded you of what it used to be like or could be, but it ain't ever gonna be like that. United we stand and divided we fall, we need to strike and forget the bull about ohhh what about your patients, what about US.