Do you love nursing but would prefer more flexibility around your hours, better pay and more opportunities to progress your career? Agency nursing could be the option you’re looking for. Find out more about agency nursing and how to choose the right agency for you.
What is agency nursing?
When an NHS Trust needs a nurse, but can’t cover the shift or job via permanent or bank staff, they will approach a nursing agency to provide a candidate on a temporary basis.
The agency will then offer the role to suitable nurses who are registered with them. If you are not registered with an agency, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll ever hear about these temporary roles, even if you’re currently working within the NHS.
Agency nurses can be deployed across all areas of the NHS - every department needs nursing staff to handle the day to day care of patients as well as more technical duties. Agency roles aren’t just for general nurses – there is a whole range of agency positions for all kinds of nurses, including paediatric nurses, neurological nurses and specialist mental health nurses.
What are the benefits of working as an agency nurse?
Hours
Nurses working through an agency generally have much more freedom around the hours they want to work than those in a permanent role. If you’re looking for a way to balance other commitments with your work, you could choose to work through an agency on a part-time basis, providing you with job stability but also the flexibility you need. You could choose to balance working with pursuing further qualifications and furthering their nursing career.
Pay
Agency nurses generally receive competitive hourly rates, as well as holiday and sick pay. Occasionally, an agency is authorised to offer escalated rates, which allow our agency workers to earn over the usual cap for agency nurses. These roles can be extremely lucrative. Agency roles in the private sector also often have higher pay rates than the NHS.
Opportunity
Agency nurse jobs can also offer more opportunities to further your career than staying in a permanent role. You’re likely to be working in a wider range of specialities and departments, giving you exposure to lots of different areas of nursing and giving you an advantage when moving up the career ladder. Many agency nurses also feel that it allows them to enjoy working in nursing without the same level of pressure that permanent nurses constantly endure.
Why choose to work with MSI Recruitment?
MSI have over 18 years' experience in healthcare recruitment and dedicated specialist teams for all nursing disciplines and UK regions. Last year, our agency nurses worked over 1 million hours!
MSI Recruitment offer extremely competitive rates of pay, as well as operating a daily payroll, so, if you have your timesheet in by 9am, you’ll be paid the very next day. It beats waiting for the next monthly payroll!
As one of the leading nursing agencies in the UK, MSI have a very wide choice of roles, hours & locations with many vacancies exclusive to us, so you’re bound to find the role that’s suitable for you.
Other benefits include:
Quick & easy registration
Free uniform
24/7 personalised support and training
Revalidation service to make sure you're always able to work
How can I become an agency nurse?
If you’d like to start the next step of your career, join MSI as an agency nurse today.
