27.02.20
Number of nurses increases by 8,570 in the past year
The Government has announced nursing numbers in the NHS have gone up by 8,570 nurses over the past year, as they work towards their ambitious goals of increasing the NHS nursing workforce by 50,000 in the next five years.
These staff increases are to be supported by £33.9bn of funding a year for the NHS by 2024 to 2025, which is set to be secured in law.
Student nurses, midwives and many allied health professionals such as paramedics on courses are set to receive support of at least £5,000 a year to help with their living costs from September. This funding will be as grants they do need to pay back.
Since 2010, there have been increases of more than 20,000 more doctors, 18,500 additional nurses, midwives and health visitors and 4,900 more paramedics.
The latest statistics gathered and released by UCAS have shown that for a second year running applications to English universities for nursing have risen. There have been 35,960 applicants to study on nursing and midwifery courses at English universities in 2020 – a 6% increase compared with 2019.
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said: “As Health Secretary, I’m determined to deliver on our commitment to have 50,000 more nurses in the NHS.
“I’m delighted that figures out today show that alongside a reduction in vacancies and an increase in the number of GPs, we’ve got record numbers of nurses working in our NHS – up by over 8,000 on the same time last year.
“This government is determined to make good on its commitments and deliver on the people’s priorities – and today’s figures show that we are doing just that.”