Mental Health Nurse moving back to Irl, south east.

Murtinho

Hello all,

im a 30yr old male and am hoping to move home with the family (wife and 2 kids, b & g 10 & 5)this coming summer after 11 yrs in Sweden of all places. I left home when i was 20, studied abroad and have absolutely no idea of how things work in the irish care system!

I qualified as a general nurse, (RN i think it is), studied psychiatrics for another yr (RPN i think!), i think what i have is called "double degree"?
I qualified 4 yrs ago and worked from day 1 in psychiatics, detox (including a 5 week specialist course), acute psychiatry, forensic psychiatry (prisons).
At the moment im working as a forensic community psych nurse, ie caring for psych patients that were sentenced to care but are being release back out.

Anyway i want to move to somewhere in the south east, at a stretch south dublin and ive been informed that ill walk into a job in the St John of Gods in stillorgan at about 34-36k.

What i really want is however somewhere in the south east, St Senans (enniscorthy) or the psych hospitals in Kilkenny, Waterford or Carlow.
Anyone got any idea of

- what are my chances of getting such a job in the south east, where do i look?
- is there any private psych hospitals in the area?
- do i need extra qualifications to work as a psych community nurse?

Its a bit of a jungle out there so all input will be a help.

Wishbone Ash

Murtinho wrote:

I qualified as a general nurse, (RN i think it is), studied psychiatrics for another yr (RPN i think!), i think what i have is called "double degree"?

Registered General Nurse - Registered Psychiatric Nurse and 'dual qualification'

ive been informed that ill walk into a job in the St John of Gods in stillorgan at about 34-36k.

That says it all! They have a high staff turnover. Your terms and conditions of employment would be much better in a state hospital although the working conditions may be less salubrious. That income figure is a basic. Most nurses would earn much more that that when all the allowances are taken into account.

What i really want is however somewhere in the south east, St Senans (enniscorthy) or the psych hospitals in Kilkenny, Waterford or Carlow.
Anyone got any idea of

St Sennan's, Enniscorthy
St. Otteran's, Waterford
St. Dympna's, Carlow
(can't think of the name of the one in Kilkenny).

- what are my chances of getting such a job in the south east, where do i look?

Very good although much of the service is now community based. Contact the staff administration dept or an Assistant Director of Nursing at any hospital.

- is there any private psych hospitals in the area?

Not that I'm aware of. AFAIK there are only two private psychiatric hospitals in Ireland, St John of God, and St Patrick's (both in Dublin).

- do i need extra qualifications to work as a psych community nurse?

Not really but you would be expected to have 5 years post qualification experience.

Murtinho

Wishbone Ash wrote:

That says it all! They have a high staff turnover. Your terms and conditions of employment would be much better in a state hospital although the working conditions may be less salubrious. That income figure is a basic. Most nurses would earn much more that that when all the allowances are taken into account.

I didnt know the St JoG was private, i figured it would be fairly turbulent however but if i cant get anything else i might settle for it. How much should i be earning, duel qualified as a psych nurse, 4½ yrs behind me?

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Contact the staff administration dept or an Assistant Director of Nursing at any hospital.

This is what id like to do but i cant find contact details for any of these places, i was expecting to go to www.stsenans.ie and click my way to something there but the hospitals dont have anything and the main page hse.ie is sparce

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Not really but you would be expected to have 5 years post qualification experience.[/QUOTE]

Oh really! This sounds intresting, by the time i move back ill have 4½ yrs! Ill definitely look into this more.

As far as i can see the best page for nursing jobs is loadzajobs.ie, anyone know of anything better?
Also, ive see a few jobs for RPN in learning disabilities etc, can a RPN work in all forms of psychiatrics?

Wishbone Ash

Murtinho wrote:

I didnt know the St JoG was private, i figured it would be fairly turbulent however but if i cant get anything else i might settle for it. How much should i be earning, duel qualified as a psych nurse, 4½ yrs behind me?

About 60k without overtime.

This is what id like to do but i cant find contact details for any of these places, i was expecting to go to www.stsenans.ie and click my way to something there but the hospitals dont have anything and the main page hse.ie is sparce

It would be more productive to contact the hospitals directly by telephone (or send a CV in advance). Most will deal with informal queries about employment prospects by telephone.

As far as i can see the best page for nursing jobs is loadzajobs.ie, anyone know of anything better?

The jobs section of the Sunday Independent (Ireland's largest selling Sunday newspaper).

Also, ive see a few jobs for RPN in learning disabilities etc, can a RPN work in all forms of psychiatrics?

Most intellectual disability services will accept psychiatric nurses.

Murtinho

Wishbone Ash wrote:

About 60k without overtime.

SERIOUS!!!!!!
Im not looking for a boss job as i am totally unclued about the irish system, as you can see!

Wishbone Ash wrote:

It would be more productive to contact the hospitals directly by telephone (or send a CV in advance). Most will deal with informal queries about employment prospects by telephone.

ill do this asap

Wishbone Ash wrote:

The jobs section of the Sunday Independent (Ireland's largest selling Sunday newspaper).

yes, my mother is going to send me over the classifieds from the Sunday Indo, i was hoping to be able to look at this directly on the net but they only refer to loadzajobs.ie and i reckon they're not all on there

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Most intellectual disability services will accept psychiatric nurses.

good, ill keep that in mind.

this is all great news, i might actually get around to filling in my bord altrainas form this w/e!

LilMrsDahamsta

HSE's own recruitment site:

http://www.careersinhealthcare.ie/

Murtinho

Wishbone Ash wrote:

About 60k without overtime.

Could someone elaborate on this figure a bit please?
Ive been looking at the nursing scales at

http://www.ino.ie/DesktopModules/Articles/ArticlesView.aspx?TabID=35&ItemID=3625&mid=6977

As i see it im a dual qualified RPN/RN and after 4-5 of psych nursing i should be on
€36875 - €37855

if i work as a public health nurse ill be on
€46613 - €47790

Where is 60K coming from?????

Murtinho

LilMsMelodrama wrote:

HSE's own recruitment site:

http://www.careersinhealthcare.ie/

yep, ive been on that one aswell, that and loadzajobs seem to be the best ones.

Wishbone Ash

Murtinho wrote:

As i see it im a dual qualified RPN/RN and after 4-5 of psych nursing i should be on
€36875 - €37855

Where is 60K coming from?????

The figures quoted are basic pay. That means the pay that a nurse would get if they worked Monday to Friday 8 to 4 pm.

However 90% of nurses do not work these hours.You have to understand that most psychiatric nurses are rostered over 7 days, e.g. many work 7 shifts per 2 week period.

Sunday Pay = Time + Time (Double)
Bank Holiday = Time +Time (Double)
Saturday = approx €14 extra (pathetic!)
Night = Time + 25% (1.25)
Location Allowance (Where applicable)
Unsocial Allowance (1/6 extra for each hour after 6pm)
Travelling Expenses (where applicable)
Dual Qualification Allowance (i.e. in your case)
Community Allowance (where applicable)
Further Education Allowance (where applicable)

There's more - I can't think of them at the moment.

Many of the allowances are pro-rata based, i.e. they are based on a percentage of your basic pay.

Overtime (sometimes referred to as 'additional hours' as it is not pensionable) is usually paid as follows:

Sunday = Double Pay
Saturday = 1.5 up to 12 noon and then Double
Mon - Fri = 1.5
Nights - 1.5 up to 12 mn and then double
Nights (Sat+Sun) Double (I think)

Overtime is obviously also pro-rata. A nurse on €50k will get more for the same day's overtime than a nurse on €40k.

A nurse on a basic of €45,000 will easily earn €75,000 with allowances and overtime. (I know some who have grossed over €100,000 last year)

Murtinho

thanks for all your help,

im going to try and get my bord altrainas form filled in and sent off today aswell as ring a few of the southeastern hospitals directly.