The NHS in England is the country’s biggest employer and one of the largest an increase of 2.4% employers globally. Of the 1.5million people employed by the NHS, in March 2020 permanent registered nurses made up 669,854 of NHS staff, an increase of 2.4% (16,310) on the previous year. (Source: https://www.nmc.org.uk)

The Covid-19 temporary register
In response to the covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, the temporary nursing register saw itself double in size from 7,658 to more than 14,000. It’s no surprise during unprecedented times its natural for those who have the desire to care together with the relevant skills and experience to offer their support. In addition to this, the NMC encouraged nurses who left the permanent register in the last three years to join the Covid-19 temporary register. 

If one thing Covid-19 has taught us is the importance of nurses and the work they do is vital as we continue to fight the virus.

Flexibility
NHS hospitals operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week which is huge advantage for nurses. The NHS understands the importance of offering flexibility to attract and retain the best workforce, maintain a healthy work-life balance and reduce absenteeism. Variious shifts are offered such as full and part-time work, flexi-time, job sharing and night shifts followed with days off in between – the choice is yours. 
Having such flexibility is highly advantageous. Firstly, it will help to give you a work/life balance preventing burn out and time to recharge. Nursing can be highly demanding and at times upsetting, so it is important to have some time out to. Secondly, it gives you more time for leisure activities, family time and personal commitments. And, finally depending on your specialism and terms with the NHS trust you can work in different departments and hospitals.

Competitive Salary
Working a nurse, you can benefit from an outstanding salary plus many benefits. The Agenda for Change sets the pay rates for all NHS staff (except for doctors, dentists and senior managers) and takes into account, level of expertise, responsibilities, skills, abilities and years of experience.
As an example, the starting salary for a Band 5 nurse with less than 1 years’ experience is £24,907. After gaining further experience and specialising in an area a nurse can move up the pay scale and earn £37,890 as top end Band 6 nurse.
Going a step further and undertaking a Master’s degree to become an Advanced Nurse Practitioner can see earnings of £44,503, Head Nurses can see up to £51,668 and finally, Consultant Nurses up to £104,927.

As well as the basic pay, there is also extra pay for those who work in areas where living costs are high, such as London. The NHS has one of the UK’s best pension schemes and offers learning opportunities through training programmes.

Career Progression
There are many routes a nurse can take when it comes to career progression, and what’s even better is you can gain first-hand experience before deciding on the path you wish to take.
Specialisms in nursing are endless, you can choose from many areas such as emergency care, anaesthetics, midwifery, neonatology, orthopaedics, fertility to surgery. You even have the option of moving into a management role, advanced practitioners and consultant nurses where they have the option to prescribe medicine to patients.
As a nurse everyday will be different and you’ll learn something new and invaluable all the time. There are also opportunities to work on research projects and be involved in new innovations.
You will be exposed to a variety of different healthcare settings, including hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and outpatient healthcare settings. This will help to keep your work varied, interesting and increase your learning and development.

Job Security
If anything, COVID-19 has shown us is the significant role nurses play in healthcare and without them hospitals would not be able to function. Over the last 10 years we have seen an increase in people living longer as a result of better healthcare and advances in medicine, this means the need for nurses will increase. Every year new nurses are required to replace to those who retire or leave the profession, it is a continuous cycle and as a result, there will always be a job for nurses giving you peace of mind that your job is here to stay.

Nursing Grants
In January 2020 the government announced a nursing grant of £5,000 will be available to all nursing, midwifery and many allied health students to help with living costs. In addition to this a further funding of up to £3000 is available to mental health and learning disability nursing students, those with childcare needs and areas of UK which have seen a decrease in students accepted onto some nursing, midwifery and allied health courses over the past year.
The funding will not have to be repaid by recipients and more than 35,000 students could benefit from the grant offered.

Find your next nursing position today

We are proud to work with NHS trusts across the UK, as a result we have roles to suit every nurse at every stage of their career.
Whether you are a newly qualified nurse or looking for new experience register your details here or view the latest nursing jobs and apply today