Public Perception of Nurses in the UK
I am a South African citizen who has been medically trained and am currently working in the United Kingdom. I do not see a future for myself in this country as we are all classified as nursing staff, fromm nurses ,radiographers, physiotherapists and occupational therapists.Nurses in the United Kingdom are viewed as the lowest level professionals in the country.
Nurses have a very important job to do , and also work very unsociable hours in this country. They do however suffer the brunt of abuse by aggressive patients, and also are violated quite a lot by senior management. Over eighty percent of nursing staff in the United Kingdom work for the National Health service. they are poorly paid, and last year received a very insulting increase from the government of one or two percent, despite soaring inflation and the rising cost of living. Nurses also do very strenous work like lifting patients and working with intensive care pateints. The NHS does not appreciate their efforts and are constently looking for ways to cut back on costs; thereby reducing the number of posts offered to nurses.
The NHS also over the past few years have drove a very vigourous recruiting campaign, and have managed to recruit a lot of foreign nurses; mainly from third world countries. I feel the NHS is quite shrewd and calculating, because despite denying these countries medical proffessionals they also offer these quite senior nurses junior posts and pay them a quarter of what they are worth. These foreign nurses as weel; do not easily get promotions even though they are very capable of doing an excellent job, and are pushed to do all the dirty work in the wards which the british nurses do not want to do. The NHS exploits foreign nurses, and needs to be more kinder to them.
Nurses are also viewed by many as being stupid and do not get the respect that they deserve for the work that they do. It takes a lot for especially a female to work long unsociable hours and go abck home in the night to the pots and pans in the kitchen. I think that the United Kingdom governement should set a day aside as a National Holiday for nurses, and try to educate the public as to how hard these special people are made to work.
I think that nurse in the United Kingdom deserve better. Many suffer from depression and lower back troubles because of the nature of the work. The government should provide extra support for these professionals. Nurses have a lot to give back to the community, and they should at least be given the time of day and be taken seriously by everyone.
