The true number is likely much higher, as they only include numbers with a completed coroners inquest. I hope one day we see the end to this corporate manslaughter.

Hey everyone!

I’m in a bit of a predicament and I’d like some advice.

Basically I recently qualified as an RMN and managed to get a job (yay!) as a clinic nurse, mainly doing depo’s/physical health checks.
However, I’ve just seen that I will be required to do venipuncture, which, I’d love to learn.

During my 3 years at uni, I was mostly on mental health wards/with the community teams and did not get much of a chance to practice myself at venipuncture. I have successfully completed it on dummy’s but never on a human. I wish I had had the foresight to beg for more training during uni but… here we are!

The problem is… in the past I have had a vasovagal reaction to bloods being drawn, I’m not scared of bloods, or needles or even having my blood taken but for whatever reason my body just reacts and I pass out/get dizzy.

This has gotten a LOT better. I did some time on a physical health ward where I was able to watch cannulation and venipuncture with little/no reaction.

My question is, has anyone struggled with this reaction and managed to get over it? Also will my new manager be understanding/give me extra time to learn?

I genuinely would be so over the moon if I could successfully take bloods as it would probably be my greatest achievement.

I’m aware exposure therapy is a thing and I’m in half a mind to go pay privately to do venipuncture and therapy just so I don’t look unprofessional at work and it’s causing me significant anxiety.

Any advice would be extremely appreciated.

I am due to qualify next September (mental health field). I am really in the trenches at the moment and have even considered sacking my whole degree off because I feel so uninspired knowing I will get to the end and have to fight x amount people for a very scarce pool of vacancies. I always envisioned ward working as my first role and I just don’t think that will be likely. However, for the sake of another 11 months I may as well not give up and at least leave with a degree in hand even if I never work as a nurse.

With that in mind I have been considering what my options could be. I previously worked in later stage dementia care within a residential care home. I always said I would never go back to that area of working, but I feel it was the hands on care that I ended up hating so much and have been having thoughts that going into management might align better for me. It’s not a case of being scared to change a shitty pad, but more trying to change a shitty pad and 9/10 ducking and diving while being physically assaulted, it got very draining in the end.

I know I wouldn’t be able to walk into a manager position just because I have a nursing degree (I also don’t want to work as a nurse in a care home either, completely off the table as an option). But what I’m trying to ask is - has anyone done something similar? How easy was it to get into and how does it affect my nursing pin?. I am assuming I just don’t register with the NMC on qualifying but do I still tell people I have just qualified as a nurse. I’m just unsure if it will confuse people at job interviews?

Also any advice from people who just didn’t pick up a registered role and went into something like working for a charity/the council etc in some kinda of care quality/safeguarding role etc would be great. I have always been interested in the CQC and working as an inspector, but I’m assuming I would potentially need managerial experience or significant nursing experience to be considered for something like that.

Hi everyone! I’ve been planning to relocate to Edinburgh from Malta for a while now (thinking about spring next year) and was wondering if anyone could give me some advice about getting a nursing job in Scotland. I’m a newly qualified nurse and have only been working for a little over a month in a general medical ward. By the time I move, I’ll probably only have roughly around 6 months of experience, so I’m wondering how difficult it would be to find a nursing job with such limited experience. I’m not too picky about where I’d be working (open to hospitals, care homes, private healthcare, etc.) as I’d want to get my foot in the door first and gain as much experience as possible. I have a British passport and a recognised bachelor’s degree, so I’m hoping that will make things a bit easier. I’m aware that I need to go through the NMC registration process before applying for nursing jobs but I’m currently waiting for my graduation certificate so I can’t really get started with that just yet. I’d love to hear from anyone who has gone through something similar or knows what the job market is like for newly qualified nurses in Edinburgh or Scotland/UK in general. Thanks!

Hello, I got a job offer and it’s two hours travel from my home by two buses. That’s the only offer I have gotten since applying, I just want to ask for some advice on the travel time, if it’s not reasonable and you think I will struggle. They have two other hospitals closer to be by 1 hour 30 minutes travel but the ward I got the job for is the one where their main site is.
Thank you.

Hiya all, NQN here.

Im just wondering what sites/resources are best to keep up to date with healthcare news and changes.

I dont want to become a nurse who isnt up to date with these things.

I'm new to a management role and I'm really struggling. To be fair, I've been dealt a pretty naff hand, 4 people left before I arrived and I've spent time recruiting 3 new starters (when I'm new myself) and learning how to manage a service/systems/processes. I don't have much support from my management.

How do people cope with juggling everything? Will it get easier? The team notices that I do get stressed and I'm struggling to find the motivation for the new starters when I'm really struggling. Any tips or advice?

Give me all your tips, thoughts and tricks that you use to stay positive at work when you are having a hard time! Have been qualified nearly 20 years now but struggling with expectations, micro aggressions, micromanagement and patronisation.

I try to keep the patient central to my practice and I see lots of kids that help to cheer me up and remind me of why I am a nurse but struggling with every other aspect of nursing right now…..😬

A few of you may remember, but after I qualified in 2025, my boyfriend had a horrible motorcycle crash, his leg taken off, and he needed full-time care for a bit. I quit my NQN position (that I hadn't even started) to move to where he lived to take care of him.

Almost 2 years later and life is finally stable enough - I just landed my first Nurse job as a practice nurse! I'd been commuting 3 hours to work nights as a HCA to make do until now and I cant believe it.

Any tips would be gladly accepted. I'm so nervous but so excited!

NQN what are we doing while we look for other jobs!
i’ve been banking as a HCA but there’s no jobs! i’ve applied for a few either haven’t got back to me or i’ve had 4 interviews and they all want people with more experience.
My dream is to be a practice nurse but that’s hard to get into newly qualified!

What’s everyone doing while we search for jobs?