Older Nurses: Problems and Solutions

1
Older Nurses Problems and Solutions
CROW Conference 20th June 2005

• Jill Manthorpe
• Professor of Social Work
• Social Care Workforce Research Unit, KCL
• Roger Watson
• Professor of Nursing
• University of Hull

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The study

• 84 interviews with nurses
• considering retirement, returners or staying on
• 18 interviews with stakeholders
• employers, TU reps, educationalists, and so on
• Watson R Manthorpe J and Andrews Nurses over 50
  options, decisions and outcomes, Policy Press
  2003
• Older community nursesperspectives and prospects
  British Journal of Community Nursing 9(7) 2004

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Key questions

• What do nurses tell us about working in later
  life?
• What do nurses tell us as older female workers?
• What do nurses tell us about the NHS?

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Follow up

• I rang the Trust and was told there was no work
  but I had seen their advert I have 30 years
  experience, the staff are all very young and
  inexperienced I now live a very simple life
  (abroad) but come back and work two months each
  year.
• - Nancy

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Nursing as a form of later life work

• Flexibility
• Skills needed, shortages of supply
• Many local employers

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Personal and professional

• We use some of the research about older workers
  and what they bring to organisations. I mean
  Tesco and other organisations who have a policy
  for bringing older workers in because they are
  generally more polite, they are more committed
  often, they turn up for work every day NHS
  manager

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Nurses tell us

• They do not receive specific return to practice
  preparation
• I did build up a fear of would I be able
  to cope? and even learning to use a computer,
  which I have not done before.
• They suspect ageism at times
• They (management are looking for newer people
  to fill the posts...people are not being treated
  with much respect for all the experience they
  have got

8
Women tell us (NB 10 nurses are men)

• Family friendly policies need more substance
• Gender issues in training may be relevant
• Diversity of pension entitlement capital
• Pluses of nursing need to outweigh stresses

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Nurses tell us about NHS

• Return to practice courses may need to be varied
• HR encouragement may not be mirrored by front
  line management
• Agency work is attractive in some ways but not
  in others
• Support is crucial as stresses accumulate

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Mangers are key

• (she) is a person very much in touch with her
  workforcein the past she has given some people
  reduced hours and has taken them our of the area
  (elderly care) and put them in a less stressful
  area

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Stop eating your young?

• The Baby Boomer nurses who have stuck it out for
  all those years and finally have the seniority to
  pick their shifts will need much mentoring to
  help them understand the need for a different
  kinder and gentler workplace. The new mantra
  will need to be stop eating your young. They
  are your ticket to retirement!
• Cordiniz J (2000) recruitment,retention and
  management of generation X a focus on nursing
  professionals J of Healthcare Management 47(4)
  237-49 p209

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3 years on from Great to be Grey

• Staffing issues are central to NHS
• Managers are responsible
• Creativity is needed in HR
• Meadows S (2002) Great to be grey how can
  the NHS recruit and retain more older staff?
  Kings Fund

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Summing up

• the last five years have been the happiest of
  my career (community nurse)
• The pace of change versus the peace of retirement
  ?
• And what do retired nurses do? The next inquiry