Nurses: Training
(asked on 25th March 2019) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the effect has been on levels of nurse recruitment of the removal of the nursing bursary.
The following table shows the number of nurses and midwives recruited since September 2016 - the year before the removal of the National Health Service bursary.
| September 2016 | September 2017 | September 2018 | December 2018 |
Nurses | 274,767 | 275,356 | 277,790 | 280,412 |
Source: NHS Digital Published Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics
The education funding reforms unlocked the cap which constrained the number of pre-registration nursing, midwifery and allied health profession training places allowing more students to gain access to nurse degree training courses.
On 7 February, the University and College Admissions Service published full-time undergraduate nursing and midwifery applications made by the 15 January deadline. This data showed a 4.5% increase in applicants to undergraduate nursing and midwifery courses at English providers. We are working with Health Education England and the university sector to ensure students continue to apply for these courses this year and in future years.