There has been a slump in the number of those studying to become nurses at a time when the NHS has 32,000 nursing vacancies.
Research from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has found that financial pressures means that more than 32,000 student nurses in England could drop out of their courses by 2029.
That’s enough, it says, to fill every nursing vacancy in the NHS in England.
“To deliver the government’s NHS reforms we need to supercharge recruitment into nursing, but we can’t do that with a broken education model or more real terms pay cuts,” says RCN general secretary and chief executive officer Nicola Ranger.
“Ministers should change course and agree a social contract with nursing students that sees pay rise and loans forgiven if they commit to working in public services,” she continues.
There has been a slump in the number of those studying to become nurses. Figures from the universities’ admissions service UCAS show that just 130 extra students started nursing courses in England this year compared with 2023.
Acceptances onto nursing courses increased a paltry 0.6% between 2023 and 2024, with numbers significantly down on 2021.
“As demand for services rises, and targets say we need hundreds of thousands of new nurses, ministers are struggling to recruit even an additional 100,” says Patricia Marquis, executive director of RCN England.
Nursing students in England pay tuition fees of £9,250 each year, which is due to rise to £9,535 next year. There is no universal maintenance grant to support living costs. More to the point, the nature of study and the requirement to complete clinical hours leaves many unable to seek paid employment.
There are almost 32,000 nurse vacancies in the NHS in England, while the pay for a typical nurse has fallen by 23% since 2020.
