03.08.16
Government must develop plan for fall in nursing applicants – Health Foundation
The decision to abolish bursaries for student nurses and other health professionals must be accompanied by a contingency plan to deal with a drop in applications for training places, according to the Health Foundation.
The Department of Health confirmed last month that it is going ahead with proposals to replace bursaries with student loans despite opposition from bodies including the Royal College of Nurses, Unite, the Patients Association and NHS Clinical Commissioners (NHSCC).
In a blog post, Toby Watt, a finance analyst at the Health Foundation, said that there is currently “an overwhelming demand” for nursing training, with UCAS data showing that 57,000 students applied for 21,450 places in 2015.
He says that if the reforms do deliver an additional 3,300 health professional training places a year as the government has promised, an average of 2,046 of these will be for nurses, leaving 2.4 applicants for every training place.
However, it is not known if the new system, which London Economics and Unite have estimated will cause a 71% increase in costs for students, will discourage applicants.
Watt said: “We can’t be certain what the future holds. The removal of the bursaries must therefore be accompanied with a plan for what happens if the number of applicants does fall by 60% or more.
“Training more nurses is essential, and this reform will help liberalise the labour market so it can react more efficiently and help meet the growing demand for clinical staff. However, the long-term success of these reforms will depend on nursing becoming an attractive career option.”
NHS Improvement estimated that in 2014 the shortfall of nurses needed was high as 15,000.
Critics of the new proposals have warned that they are particularly likely to discourage the 40% of nursing students who are over 25, because they are more likely to have families and additional student debt.
NHSCC has also warned that an increase in student nurses is not necessarily a good thing because new applicants could be chosen “based upon the ability to pay rather than the key values and skills required in the nursing profession”.
(Image c. Anthony Devlin from PA Archive and Press Association Images)
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