Care home nurse jobs

Care Home Nurse jobs: frequently asked questions

Welcome to our Care Home Nurse jobs page, featuring all the best care home jobs for Nurses currently available across the UK. Here are some handy FAQs for anyone wishing to learn more about the profession.

What is a Care Home Nurse??

A Care Home Nurse provides care and support for people living in care homes for a variety of different reasons.

Within this role, you could support adult residents with physical disabilities, people with mental health issues like dementia, or elderly residents.

Either way, you’ll be caring for those no longer able to safely care for themselves in their own home.

You’ll either work across multiple sites within a specific geographic area (these roles are often advertised as ‘Peripatetic Nurses’), or within a single care home.

Positions are regularly available within both the private and public sector.

Care homes are very similar to nursing homes – and the two terms are often used interchangeably.

However, care homes tend to support residents with a lower level of medical dependence.

As a result, care homes tend to have a slightly lower demand for Nurses – and nursing homes are required by law to have Registered Nurses on site 24 hours a day.

Care home nursing jobs are typically shift-based and you’ll be required to provide round-the-clock support.

What does a Care Home Nurse do?

The nature of your role can vary greatly depending on the types of residents a care home supports.

Importantly, unlike a general nursing position in a hospital, you’re likely to be the only Registered Nurse or one of very few, and will have far more responsibility.

Therefore, you could oversee the activities of other medical staff and will need to create and manage healthcare plans for all of the residents.

In some cases you will also be required to provide and support end-of-life care on a regular basis, which inevitably can be extremely challenging.

Broadly speaking, your responsibilities could otherwise include:

• Writing and monitoring care plans – taking into account the medical histories of each patient

• Educating residents on their care plans and needs

• Administering medication

• Performing regular health checks and analysing results

• Performing medical procedures where necessary

• Communicating with residents’ families about their condition and ongoing plans

• Planning resident activities according to their personal healthcare needs

• Arranging hospital transfers where necessary

Full-time and part-time positions are abundant, as are bank and agency positions. So, your working hours and shift patterns can vary greatly.

How do you become a Care Home Nurse?

Care homes don’t always offer the same level of medical support as a nursing home, so the type and number of nurses they require can vary.

Although care homes often employ a variety of healthcare professionals, support workers and Nurses, employers looking for a Care Home Nurse are normally looking for a Registered General Nurse (RGN) and Mental Health Nurse (RMN).

To become a Registered General Nurse you will of course have to complete a nursing degree, which are offered at universities all across the UK.

After that, you must register with the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC).

In most cases, simply being a qualified Nurse will equip you with everything you need for care home nursing jobs.

But some care homes, depending on the specialist care they provide, may require some on-the-job experience.

For anyone studying nursing with a keen interest in becoming a Care Home Nurse, it might be a good idea to seek out some part-time work within a local care home as a support worker or assistant.

This experience will be a great benefit when applying for care home nursing roles further down the line.

How much do Care Home Nurses earn?

Care Home Nurses within NHS funded establishments earn the same salary as a General Nurse in any other NHS setting.

That means you’ll earn a Band 5 salary – which currently starts at £24,214 a year.

That salary rises incrementally every year until you reach the top of your banding, which is over £30,000.

However, only a small percentage of care homes are actually publically run nowadays.

The vast majority are run by private companies, and the pay is unregulated.

Pay therefore varies greatly, but the average salary in the UK is currently around £35,000 a year.

After gaining some experience as a Care Home Nurse, you can start applying for a Senior Care Home Nurse position, which could see you earn well beyond £40,000 a year.

Many Care Home Nurses also go on to become Care Home Managers.

With the private sector dominating the provision of residential care homes, salaries and benefits will differ from one job to the next.

So, take your time to carefully review what’s on offer by each and every employer.

Find your next Care Home Nurse job today

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