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figures show that applications to train as a nurse have plummeted by 20 per cent since the Government scrapped their bursaries and introduced tuition fees.

Currently there are 24,000 unfilled nursing posts, so this will prove catastrophic. And it’s likely to hit areas such as mental health really hard because this specialty already suffers dreadful recruitment problems.

Where I work, there are so many unfilled posts that wards are having to operate with half the numbers of qualified psychiatric nurses needed. This puts tremendous pressure on those working, so sickness rates are high and retention really difficult.

We can’t wait for this crisis to get worse. We need to reintroduce bursaries and scrap tuition fees for nurses now. This is one U-turn we should all be pushing for.