Quarter of UK student nurses drop out before graduation

Of the 16,544 UK nursing students who began three-year nursing degrees at at 55 universities that were due to finish last year, 4,027 left their courses early or suspended their studies.

With the poor retention figures blamed on bad experiences on clinical placements, financial difficulties and academic pressures, the Nursing Standard magazine claims that the NHS faces a shortage of tens of thousands of nurses, with the attrition rate of 24.8 per cent in 2006 remaining 24 per cent today.

Last year, applications by students in England to nursing and midwifery courses at British universities fell by 23 per cent after the government abolished NHS bursaries, replacing those with tuition fees and a loans system.

Lynn Eaton, editor of Nursing Standard, said: “Nursing is a great career. Despite all we hear about the problems in the NHS and the changes in funding students while they study, it’s still a very attractive option. However, the drop-out rate, shown by our survey, is a major concern. We need to recruit enough nurses to meet the needs of our growing older population. But we also need to make sure we’re training the right people for those roles. Some students will, sadly, realise it’s not for them.”

Ben Gershlick, senior economics analyst at the Health Foundation, who jointly obtained the data, said: “While the attrition rate has remained fairly constant over the last decade its impact is becoming more severe bearing in mind the overall shortage of nurses, vacancies in nursing posts and rising demand pressures on the NHS. The need for nurses trained in the UK has also increased as we have seen a recent fall in the inflow of nurses coming from abroad.”

Anne Corrin, head of Professional Learning and Development at the Royal College of Nurding, said: “As a new academic year begins, these figures are a stark and timely reminder of the need to properly support student nurses. It is vital that student nurses have the opportunity to learn in placements – where they spend half their time –and are not relied upon to make up shortfalls in staffing numbers. They must not be exploited as cheap labour. Experienced nurses must also be supported to teach students on placement and CPD budgets protected.
 
“Nursing is a wonderful career, but student nurses face some of the most demanding workloads of any course. This makes financial pressures of student life and placements even harder to bear. Falling student numbers and rising vacancies in our health and social care services mean addressing these issues has never been more urgent.”