Nurses, midwives and allied health professionals (AHPs) should have their student loans written off to combat the growing NHS recruitment and retention crisis, a think tank has concluded.
The Nuffield Trust argue that loans forgiveness should be immediately implemented for the circa 28,000 nurses, midwives and AHPs recruited each year, with a 30% reduction coming after three years, a 70% reduction after seven years, and a complete write-off after a decade.
The policy proposal comes in the midst of research examining the alarming dropout rate within the NHS – something the think tank describes as a “huge cost inefficiency”.
After undergoing comprehensive analysis of the clinical career pathway – from training into the first few years of work – the Nuffield Trust found that:
- one in eight nursing students dropped out during their training;
- one in nine midwives do not join their profession after graduating;
- one in five nurses have left NHS hospital and community positions within two years of joining;
- two GP training places are filled for every one GP that actually joins the workforce.
The Nuffield Trust argues that its solution would increase the number of people wanting to go into a clinical career, reduce the early-leaver rate and ultimately bolster the health and care sector’s workforce.
“Our proposal to write off student debt is affordable, credible and could be implemented straight away. Policymakers need to seize this opportunity and begin to stem the unacceptable levels of attrition in the NHS workforce.”
The loans forgiveness scheme would cost £230m per year for nursing, midwives and AHPs, which the Nuffield Trust highlights is less than the government stands to save via the incoming student loan repayment changes.
Doctors could also benefit from a similar scheme at a cost of approximately £170m a year.
Dr Billy Palmer, the report’s author and a senior fellow at the Nuffield Trust, said: “These high dropout rates are in nobody’s interest: they’re wasteful for the taxpayer, often distressing for the students and staff who leave, stressful for the staff left behind, and ultimately erode the NHS’s ability to deliver safe and high-quality care.”
He continued: “Simply ploughing more staff into training without thinking either about why they leave, or what might tempt them to stay, is enormously short-sighted. The government’s plans to increase clinical training places must be accompanied by a realistic plan to encourage staff to stay and reward them for doing so.”
The loans forgiveness proposal builds on work previously commissioned by the Royal College of Nursing through London Economics, which looked at the costs and benefits of a student loans forgiveness scheme for nurses in England.
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