This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
Abolished bursaries cause drop in nursing applications
Latest figures have shown that the number of nursing applicants in England has fallen by 23 per cent since 2016.
Figures released by UCAS, the universities admissions service, has shown that 9,990 fewer people chose to study nursing compared to last year, with 33,810 applying in January 2017, compared to 43,800 applicants in January 2016.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) says that the government’s decision to charge fees to nursing students in England, and replace NHS bursaries with student loans from September 2017, has caused the decrease in applications.
UCAS also revealed that most applicants to nursing are over 19 years old and English applicants from this age group decreased by between 16 per cent and 29 per cent. English 18 year old nursing applicants fell by 10 per cent.
Universities have attempted to dismiss the fears, highlighting the drop, and eventual recovery, of university admissions following the tuition fee increases introduced in 2012.
Professor Steve West, the chair of Universities UK’s health education policy network, said most universities had anticipated ‘a dip’ in applications but called for the government to promote nursing degrees.
Janet Davies, chief executive and general secretary of the RCN, said: “We warned the government the removal of student funding would see a sharp drop in nursing applications. These figures confirm our worst fears. The nursing workforce is in crisis and if fewer nurses graduate in 2020 it will exacerbate what is already an unsustainable situation.
“The outlook is bleak – fewer EU nurses are coming to work in the UK following the Brexit vote, and by 2020 nearly half the workforce will be eligible for retirement.
“With 24,000 nursing vacancies in the UK, the government needs to take immediate action to encourage more applicants by reinstating student funding and investing in student education – the future of nursing, and the NHS, is in jeopardy.”
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