Petition - please sign

Robothell

Sorry for using the forum like this guys but I reckon it's a good cause. When Student Nurses enter University they are paid a bursary of about £6000 a year. They do not get a grant, are not eligible to get a student loan and don't have the time to hold down a part time job as they work on the hospital wards as well as in Uni. Some folks on the Student's board have posted this petition on the number 10 website and are looking support.....although they're asking for an extra £10,000 a year (a bit much in my opinion but I suppose you can ask big and settle for less) I still think student nurses and even nurses in general are woefully underpaid!

Student board link

:beer:

D.A.

My bum, nurses are underpaid! Look how much they get paid compared to the likes of social workers, who do just as difficult a job!

leftieM

Sorry, I'm a begrudger. I need to be convinced that this is a worthy cause.

Robothell

How much would you want for spending 13 hours on your feet 2 days a week, 6 1/2 hours 2 further days a week, not being paid for your tea break so you can't go over 15 minutes, starting work at 0730 or better still, doing from 2030 until 0730 without sleep, getting spat on, hit, shouted at by relatives and confused patients, or the ever present confused and aggressive patients in the DTs. Not to mention cleaning dirty bums and foetid wounds while being groped by dirty old men who think they're in a carry on movie. I'm not a nurse myself but work with plenty and I can realise it's a !!!!!! job with few if any perks. I'm not trying to play down any other healthcare professionals or the jobs they do. The fact is that social workers are not committed to the same hours in Uni and it is actually possible to hold down a part time job whereas if you're doing these hours as a student nurse, with the addition of university hours it leaves very few hours free in a week.

Why not add your signature......honestly, I'm not asking you to part with money, just lend some support to the people who look after our sick and dying every hour of every day (and yes, there are some who don't do as good a job as others but that's the same in every walk of life).

Did you guys wind your windows down to the firemen a few years ago and tell them to quit whining and get back to work?

Robothell

And of course.....it costs you nothing to sign the petition......it's MSE at it's very best!

Colin_Kee

Firstly, Your saying they get a £6000 Bursary. I don't believe this has to be paid back like student loans? Correct me if I'm wrong....

All other Students take out student loans & these have to be paid back..
I'm not taking anything away from the job Nurses do, not in the slightest, they do a very noble job and deserve to be paid as well as anyone else when qualified but ALL students get in Debt, It's part of Being a student.. When you qualify, you get a job and spend the next Ten Years paying it off.. Thats the way it is, I don't see why student Nurses should be treated any different than any other Student.. You say they can't take part time jobs like other students, OK but you get £6000/year you don't have to pay back, more than any student would make working a part time job... any student world kill for that...

Robothell

What I'm trying to say is that student nurses, as well as going to their university lectures, tutorials and practicals etc are also rostered to do 37 hours per week (approx, not counting daily breaks for lunch and tea etc) on the hospital wards and in the community. The nursing course runs all year round, through the summer and winter holidays that other students get. The long and short of it is that yes, student nurses get £6k that they don't have to pay back but THEY WORK FOR THAT........if you work that out on an hourly rate of pay that's less than £1 a hour!!!! Now, I agree that student nurses aren't qualified to do the vast majority of the tasks a fully fledged staff nurse can do but they are there doing washes, dressings, taking clinical readings like pulse, BP, temp etc, making beds, counselling patients and all the other things we take for granted. All they are asking is that they are given a fair rate of pay for their work as part of their course as there is no opportunity for them to get part time work due to the amount of time they need to commit to their course and the unsociable hours they work.

Guys, to be honest, I'm more than a little shocked at the response this has got. I posted the link to this person's posting because I thought it was a good cause that needed support and thought that my fellow NI MSE'ers were a reasonable and generous bunch. Instead you're showing yourselves up to be the sort who begrudge others what is right and fair. They're not asking for your money, they're not asking for you to put anyone else out.....if it were up to me I'd have the government pay for all students' education and tuition fees (I'm still paying off the £20k debt I ran up in five years of medical school - and that was with full student loans and a part time job term time, full time job over holidays).

wifeforlife

Robothell wrote:

What I'm trying to say is that student nurses, as well as going to their university lectures, tutorials and practicals etc are also rostered to do 37 hours per week (approx, not counting daily breaks for lunch and tea etc) on the hospital wards and in the community.

None of my friends had to do this, the course she attended was at Queens, belfast. She had to attend Uni maybe once a week the other times she was on work experience on the wards.


Instead you're showing yourselves up to be the sort who begrudge others what is right and fair. They're not asking for your money, they're not asking for you to put anyone else out.....if it were up to me I'd have the government pay for all students' education and tuition fees (I'm still paying off the £20k debt I ran up in five years of medical school - and that was with full student loans and a part time job term time, full time job over holidays).

Also I dont agree with any students get their fees paid for, why should they?! I am now an adult learner, I'm studying for a degree with the OU of which I pay for myself, I work full time, I am a mother to a toddler and I also study a minimum of 8 hours a week as well as running a home. I dont get any help for that so why should you or any other student with no responsibilities.

This in no way is disrepecting nurses either, I have aunts and good girl friends that had the calling

Cath

wifeforlife

Oh just to add you saying about all the hard work you do, how long the hours are, but you should maybe reconsider your signature strip haha

Cath

AceCobra

Nurses are overpaid, my opinion is from experience.
Student Nurses get a pro rata wage similar to that of a B grade Nurse - IE they get paid when others have to take out loans, they have no time for a part time job as they are already getting paid to do a part time job.
When Nurses are on their Uni rotation they still get their wage and can easily work a 2nd part time job like other students.

Silly complaint imo.


EDIT just read some more, you think student Nurses do 37 hours a week all the time as well as Uni? Thats incorrect they have a placement in Uni (7 weeks I think at the moment) then a 7 week Hospital placement, they get paid half that of a b grade Nurse as they work half the hours of a full time B grade Nurse.

leftieM

Robothell wrote:

How much would you want for spending 13 hours on your feet 2 days a week, 6 1/2 hours 2 further days a week, not being paid for your tea break so you can't go over 15 minutes, starting work at 0730 or better still, doing from 2030 until 0730 without sleep, getting spat on, hit, shouted at by relatives ...... not to mention cleaning dirty bums .....while being groped by dirty old men

It sounds like my day as a full time mother

Robothell, I don't begrudge nurses their salaries when they're qualified. A bit less to the docs and a bit more to the nurses would be nice. However while they are students I think that they should receive less than a salary.