Nurses
My sister in law is currently training to be an NHS nurse. I don't think people are really aware of how excruciatingly difficult their training is, regardless of what they end up doing in their careers.

She has to work shifts to get her "placement points", while at the same time studying for and taking exams. Since my sister in law has to commute a few hours to her uni, let alone the hospital, this often means she works a night shift and then just stays on at uni to take the course.

They get all the crappy jobs- for example, her first placement involved cleaning dentures and someone's false eye(!) in a ward. She did them one at a time so she didn't mess them up. Apparently the girl who took the placement after her dumped them all in together, washed off all the markings, and ended up giving the jawbone of a behemoth to a little old lady. Also, "if you drop the eye you have to chase it."

Her next placement was in a morgue, and being on duty ready to arrange and clean the bodies of the dead. Apparently there's a VERY fine line where you can do this before they go all icky, and it's not a pleasant job.

She's currently working on a normal ward changing beds, which would be fine... but the hospital hasn't allowed for the fact that she's only just over 4 feet tall, and can't really reach the beds.

Anyway, she works bloody hard, and deserves more than my well meaning mockery. If she gets ill she doesn't get help from the NHS, despite the fact that she's training for them, and if she needs money she's not allowed to work in any other caring facility.
(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Thu 11 Mar 2010, 20:18, 2 replies)

Hmmm
Im a nurse; a placement in the morgue? I think maybe she did 1 shift there. And cant work elsewhere? There's no reason she cant go on NHS Professionals to get some extra £.
(kitescreech still here, Sat 13 Mar 2010, 12:28, closed)

No, she did about a month/3 days a week
I think it's attached to the hospital ward she was in at the same time, but she was interested in working there full time so she did some extra, or something.
(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Tue 16 Mar 2010, 12:04, closed)