Why become an agency nurse?
Feeling frustrated in your current nursing role?
Nurses have traditionally been motivated to join the profession in order to help people and make a difference to their lives, but recent research from NHS England has revealed an ‘alarming downturn’ in staff wellbeing.
Nurses and other healthcare professionals feel that they are under unrealistic time pressures, that they do too much unpaid overtime and that their health and wellbeing is not supported by their Trust. This has led 51% of those surveyed to think about leaving their current role and 21% to consider quitting the NHS altogether.
It’s hard for nurses to deliver the best for their patients when their own health and wellbeing is suffering and they’re not happy at work. If you love nursing and working for the NHS, but you’re not happy in your current job, have you considered agency nursing?
Why consider an agency nursing job?
If you could work in NHS hospitals as you do now, but with more flexibility around your hours, better pay and more opportunity to progress your career, would you be happier at work? That’s what agency nursing with Priority Nursing can offer.
Hours
Nurses working through an agency generally have much more freedom around the hours they want to work than those in a permanent role. If you’re looking for a way to balance other commitments with your work, you could choose to work through an agency on a part-time basis, providing you with job stability but also the flexibility you need. You could choose to balance working with pursuing further qualifications and furthering their nursing career.
Pay
Agency nurses generally receive competitive hourly rates, as well as holiday and sick pay. Priority Nursing has access to some of the best-paid nursing roles in the country.
Priority Nursing also operates a daily payroll, so, if you have your timesheet in by 9am, you’ll be paid the very next day. It beats waiting for the next monthly payroll!
Opportunity
Agency nurse jobs can also offer more opportunities to further your career than staying in a permanent role. You’re likely to be working in a wider range of specialities and departments, giving you exposure to lots of different areas of nursing and giving you an advantage when moving up the career ladder. Many agency nurses also feel that it allows them to enjoy working in nursing without the same level of pressure that permanent nurses constantly endure.
Why not give agency nursing a try?
If you’d like to join Priority Nursing as an agency nurse, please get in touch with us on +44 (0)203 817 4050 or info@priority-nursing.com.
Agency nurses typically receive higher rates of pay than permanent NHS nurses. The theory being that this is compensation for short notice assignments and the potential that those assignments may be cancelled at short notice. The economics of supply and demand are obviously a key factor too and it is sadly a fact that many hospitals are just not able to plan for events such as staff sickness in the most effective way.
If you prefer the stability, security and benefits that a permanent role and guaranteed income provides then working in an ever changing environment may not be the best option for you. To be one of the best agency nurses you will have to be incredibly professional at all times and love what you do it takes a certain type of nurse to be able to tick all of these boxes!