Back to work

BACK TO WORK

Come back to nursing

Little wonder Ola Idowu went into nursing having watched her mother Felicia care devotedly for her patients in Nigeria.

Not only did she pass on an enduring passion for the profession to her daughter, she instilled a work ethic Ola now wants her son to witness. And these are the reasons she has returned to nursing.

Felicia passed away before seeing her daughter graduate with her BSc nursing degree, before seven-year-old Tami was born and before the 33-year-old became a treasured member of the team at the Trevor Gibbens Unit in Maidstone where her skills, experience and heart for mental health have been making a difference for the past year.

She said: “It has been great. If I said I didn’t initially feel guilty, I would be lying. But Tami was six, at school and I reached a place where I thought I can do this. To show him the pride I have in my work is important.

“It seemed a little daunting and I was thinking would I remember, but it was like riding a bike. You never lose that love for caring.”

Ola’s husband Deji also works for the NHS as an IT contractor. The flexibility shown by both their managers means they can share all the roles and responsibilities that come with family life.

Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust would love to hear from previously-registered RMNs and RNLDs.

It runs the Return to Practice programme in conjunction with Canterbury Christ Church University. The next course starts in January 2020 with the deadline to apply in October.

Like Ola, you could look to come back into the workplace now on flexible hours as a healthcare assistant in advance of the course starting and you regaining your PIN.

To find out more, log on to www.kmpt.nhs.uk/return-to-practice or for an informal chat, give Emma Hutchinson a call in the recruitment team on 01227 812351.

More Protection for Mums Returning to Work

New parents returning to work could receive greater protection from redundancy under new government proposals.

The government is proposing that mothers returning to work from maternity leave will be protected from redundancy for a minimum of six months.

The announcement followed research which found that one in nine women had been fired or made redundant when they returned to work after having a child, or were treated so badly they felt forced out of their job.

It is also considering giving the same protection to parents returning from adoption or shared parental leave.

School Holidays Put Single Parents under Pressure

Single parents struggle particularly with the extra costs involved in school holiday childcare, according to recent research commissioned by the credit information provider, Equifax.

A fifth of single parents admit to calling in sick because they are unable to afford childcare. 35% of single parents take unpaid leave, compared to just 18% of dual-income households, which puts them under further financial pressure.

School holidays also come with the added pressure to spend money to keep children entertained. The research revealed that most parents expect to spend £178.29 during a half-term holiday.

4 out of 5 parents agree that school holidays are getting more expensive every year, with more than 76% saying there are fewer free entertainment options out of term time, compared to five years ago.

Mums Working Close to Home Fuels Gender Pay Gap

Women in every part of the UK are more likely than men to live within a 15 minute commute to their place of work, according to statistics released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

43% of women get to work in no more than 15 minutes, whereas 61% of commuters who travel for more than an hour are men.

This ‘gender commuting gap’ starts to widen after the birth of the first child in the family and continues to grow for around 10 years after that, according to analysis of the statistics by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS).

Economists think this constraint on commuting longer distances may be one of

the factors contributing to the ‘gender pay gap,’ as mothers, in particular, are limited by distance in their choice of work, needing to work closer to home and childcare facilities.

More info: www.ifs.org.uk