Nurses: Training

(asked on 12th February 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of nurse training course fees and bursaries being paid for by the NHS subject to the completion of several years of post-registration work as a nurse.


Answered by
Stephen Hammond Portrait
Stephen Hammond
This question was answered on 18th February 2019

In August 2017 the Government changed the funding system for pre-registration undergraduate nurse training. The intention of the reforms is to boost participation and secure the future supply of home-grown nurses to the National Health Service and enable universities to create additional nursing and midwifery training places.

On 7 February, the University and College Admissions Service (UCAS) published full-time undergraduate nursing and midwifery applications made by the 15 January deadline. This data showed a 4.5% increase in the number of applicants compared to the same point in 2018.

Based on the data UCAS published in February, there is no intention to provide bursaries for nurse training course fees.

On 9 May 2018 the former Secretary of State for Health (Rt. hon. Jeremy Hunt MP) announced a £10,000 package of golden hello payments for 2018/19 loan funded postgraduate nursing students that take up employment in learning disability, mental health or community service nursing roles. The full details of this incentive will be published in due course.

The NHS Long Term Plan, published on 7 January 2019, sets out a vital strategic framework to ensure that over the next 10 years the NHS will have the staff it needs so that nurses have the time they need to care, working in a supportive culture that allows them to provide the expert compassionate care they are committed to providing.

My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has commissioned Baroness Dido Harding, working closely with Sir David Behan, to lead a number of programmes to engage with key NHS interests to develop a detailed workforce implementation plan. These programmes will consider detailed proposals to grow the workforce, including consideration of additional staff and skills required, build a supportive working culture in the NHS and ensure first rate leadership for NHS staff.

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