Call to pay back student nurses’ fees as they help to fight Covid-19
THE GOVERNMENT should reimburse student nurses their tuition fees in recognition of the vital role they are playing in the coronavirus response, health bodies say.
The Royal College of Nursing has made fresh calls for all future students in England to have their fees covered, as well as the current intake.
The RCN, Royal College of Midwives, National Union of Students and Unison wrote to Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock earlier this month but said there had been no response.
They have repeatedly opposed tuition fees but said the Covid-19 crisis placed the “unfairness” of the Government’s policy “into even starker focus”.
Some 26,026 student nurses and midwives have opted to take up a paid placement during their degree to help during the pandemic as of May 22, Health Education England figures show. Mike Adams, RCN director for England, said: “The vital work student nurses have been doing throughout the pandemic has demonstrated the huge contribution nursing undergraduates make to our health and care services – neither they nor future students should have to pay tuition fees to do this.
“The Government must do all it can to ensure that anyone who wants to study to become a nurse is able to do so.
“No one should feel they can’t become a nurse because they can’t afford it.
“The NHS entered the Covid-19 crisis with almost 40,000 unfilled nursing posts in England alone – effectively with one arm tied behind its back. Only by increasing the number of student nurses will we be able to provide safe and effective care for all.”
On Wednesday Prime Minister Boris Johnson committed to looking into the issue.
MP Robert Halfon asked Mr Johnson during a Commons Liaison Committee meeting whether “every student who is working in the NHS during the coronavirus should have their tuition fees reimbursed this academic year at the very least”.
The PM said he would come back on the issue and promised “an answer as soon as we possibly can”.