I feel people in jobs like us where 12 hour shifts are the norm, it's hard to maintain a social life let alone date.
I feel many people have to settle because of limited options due to having limited time.
How do you meet your partner?
Recently a Scottish MP argued mandatory NHS service of 5 years for all Nurses who trained in Scotland.
Scotland however had slighlty higher wages, had a lower cost of living, more grants to students than us and of course, free higher education so students only get into debt with their maintaince loan.
Wales also have where it's free but you must stay in Wales for 2 years.
I think this is to deter people moving to England.
Of course (at least for now) the very vast majority of English trained nurses, stay in England. I think it's more common for Doctors (10% I think), to leave for another country.
Although the overall number of nurses leaving the proffession has actually gone down recently, the number of early year nurses quitting the NHS (less than 3 years after graduation), has gone up.
I think in regards to staff retention, it's the early year nurses who need the most attention.
I can also see nurses following the growing national trend of record numbers of university graduates under 30 leaving the UK since it is easier to find employment in other countries who have now moved away from countries like India for recuritment and are now "poaching us".
We may be training the next generation of Canadian, American and Australian nurses. This is of course not only a huge hit for the NHS but an awful return of investment for the taxpayer as a whole.
Should we introduce free uni for returned service?