My oldest son is a care assistant and has been working in nursing homes since he was 18. He has only ever been out of work when he was first dx with type 1 diabetes. He has 6 years under his belt with good references. He has also been studying with the Open Uni in health care.
He was turned down for a nursing degree because he doesn't tick the right UCAS boxes. His OU points and his work experience don't count.
Meanwhile someone he knows who has no experience and has never studied health has a place for training.
UCAS needs scrapping.
But to rub salt into his wounds he read this today
NURSES TO TRAIN IN BASIC CARE
Frankly it's embarrassing. I nursed for just over 16 years. I watched the standards not so much slip as nose dive as student nurses were kept in Uni classrooms and not given the hands on experience they needed. It was all about paper exams and not about care at all.
I knew things had hit rock bottom one night when I was helping a bank nursing assistant shower an elderly patient who, due to TS dementia could get aggressive if she was scared and she knew me so it was sensible for me to be there. The NA told me in all the time she had worked at our hospt she had NEVER seen a qualifed nurse help to bath or shower a patient! (I was F grade at the time)
I couldn't believe it. But when I thought about it even on our ward I had to force qualified staff to do the job sometimes.
We'll see what happens here...
He was turned down for a nursing degree because he doesn't tick the right UCAS boxes. His OU points and his work experience don't count.
Meanwhile someone he knows who has no experience and has never studied health has a place for training.
UCAS needs scrapping.
But to rub salt into his wounds he read this today
NURSES TO TRAIN IN BASIC CARE
Frankly it's embarrassing. I nursed for just over 16 years. I watched the standards not so much slip as nose dive as student nurses were kept in Uni classrooms and not given the hands on experience they needed. It was all about paper exams and not about care at all.
I knew things had hit rock bottom one night when I was helping a bank nursing assistant shower an elderly patient who, due to TS dementia could get aggressive if she was scared and she knew me so it was sensible for me to be there. The NA told me in all the time she had worked at our hospt she had NEVER seen a qualifed nurse help to bath or shower a patient! (I was F grade at the time)
I couldn't believe it. But when I thought about it even on our ward I had to force qualified staff to do the job sometimes.
We'll see what happens here...
