NHS Under Strain: Nurses and Midwives Bursaries

In a continuing post about the current strain on the NHS, I thought I'd make a little change and talk about some other healthcare workers who are also, shall we say, under 'attack', from the government. I am of course talking about nurses and midwives who have just this week heard that their bursaries are being cut.

Nurses currently receive an annual £1000 non-means tested grant (which means every nursing student is entitled to it) and an annual means-tested NHS bursary payment of up to £4491.

However the universities minister, Jo Johnson, under Theresa May's new government, has confirmed that student nurses will have to pay for their tuition and living costs using student loans rather than government funded bursaries. The government cites this move as a way to create more nurse training posts, which they say will help reduce the nursing staff shortage in the UK.

The move was initially announced during the spending review in Parliament last November and a consultation into the move has heard opposition from nurses, universities and the Royal College of Nurses. Despite this the government is forging ahead with its plans to scrap the bursaries from August 1, 2017, the same date as the increase in university tuition fees across the UK.

In a statement published by the Universities Minister he stated that those training to become nurses, midwives and allied healthcare professionals will be subject to the same general student finance arrangements that apply to other undergraduate students from 2017 onwards. He added that these changes will allow universities to provide up to 10,000 additional nursing and midwifery spaces by 2020, allowing more applicants the opportunity to become healthcare professionals.

Janet Davies, the chief executive and general secretary of the RCN (Royal College of Nurses) said the move was "unfair and risky" to place increased financial burden on nurses.

Nurses meanwhile argue, quite fairly, that since they spend a large portion of their degree on training placements, effectively working as nurses (equating over 2300 hours), they should be considered differently to other students, and forcing them to take out loans, equates to making them pay to work. Unison, the public service union, has warned that the new changes could lead to nurses seeing debts of up to £50,000, which could lead to fewer students applying to nursing courses.

Another concern amongst nursing students is the fact that the average age of nursing students is 29, which might make other financial commitments such as mortgages difficult if they also have student loans.

The Department of Health has said it will offer £1000 per year in childcare support to students with children and allow those taking a second degree to gain access to the student loan system where previously they would not have been eligible for a loan (students undertaking second degrees cannot apply for student finance).

With this decision having now been announced it will take some time to gauge the impact on the nursing community, but one thing is certain; the entire NHS as a whole is struggling to survive.