Sounds good the £5000 for nurses, I welcome it. It’s about time something, even if it’s a token gesture to encourage the loss of skilled workers joining the profession. In 2016 George Osbourne cut the bursaries ultimately discouraging people from joining the profession, leaving a shortfall of about 50,000 nursing vacancies in the UK.
Before it was abolished, Nurses and even midwives could apply for non-repayable bursaries of up to £4191. And have their course fees paid for, worth up to £9000 a year. You can understand why we had a massive shortfall in nurses when it was withdrawn. The service nurses provide is imperative to the success of the recovery through the illness and wellbeing of patients.
This announcement from Mr Hancock came in just before the application deadline was approaching to entice those considering a nursing degree.
It’s an annual payment of £5000 starting at the next academic year. Also, those considering specialist disciplines, like mental health, will get an additional £3000.
Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth welcomed the partial reversal on student nurse bursaries but called for further funding.
The good thing is that NHS funding is in law and should never have been withdrawn in the first place. It is repairing the damage created by nine years of cuts since the coalition in 2010. We must ensure patients and the public can access safe and effective health care services.
This investment of 33.9billion till 2023/24 will still be the smallest increase, and it won’t go far enough because of what happened in the previous nine years. One hell of a crisis!
Nurses feel let down and undervalued. RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary Dame Donna Kinnair said: “With tens of thousands of vacant nurse jobs, serious measures are needed. This grant is a first victory for the campaign that our student nurses are running. The announcement will hopefully encourage more people to apply to a nursing degree by the mid-January deadline.
The Royal College of Nursing is asking you to get involved to save their future, #SaveOurFuture, and campaign with them to help increase funding.
Reference:
Milne, O. (2019) ‘Why Boris Johnson’s £5,000 for nurses next year doesn’t reverse cruel Tory cuts’
RCN, (2019) ‘RCN urges Government to put £1bn back into nursing higher education’
RCN, (2019) ‘Student funding announcement: what we know so far’