Dangers of cutting incentives to study nursing

SIR – The NHS is facing a staffing crisis. More nurses are leaving than joining; this year’s intake of nursing undergraduates was the lowest yet. The population is growing by a third of a million per year, and the proportion of elderly patients with complex needs is rising.

Until this year’s intake, nursing students received a small bursary and paid no tuition fees. In 2017 that changed. Now they pay the full fees (£9,250 a year) and receive no bursary. Instead they have to apply for a loan and/or rely on parents to meet living costs. Importantly, because they have longer academic terms and must be available for long placements, they are unable to take up regular part-time or vacation work. My younger daughter, who is now a nursing student, will probably leave university with a debt of around £55,000.

This change in funding was both unfair and counterproductive. The Government’s new approach is based on the notion that all graduates will benefit from better-paying careers. It also claimed the move would free up universities to take on more nursing students; in reality, it has led to a reduction in applications, and so we have fewer new nurses to fill gaps in services. The majority of students will now come from wealthier homes: gone will be the days when nurse-training was a major engine for social mobility.

Worse still for the NHS, today’s nursing students recognise that this crude application of market forces to their vocation can cut both ways. As a result of these new financial pressures, they are tempted to plan for working abroad after qualification, so they can increase their earning power to repay their enormous post-graduation debts. Jack Kellett

Lewes, East Sussex