Cost of nursing

I ALWAYS wanted to be a nurse, but when I left school my parents wouldn’t give their consent for me to live in the nurses’ home, which then was a requirement.

After 16 years of marriage and three children, I was finally able to achieve my dream and became a State Enrolled Nurse in mental health. It took two years of training on the wards, during which I was paid a living wage.

I couldn ’t have become a nurse if I was starting out today because I simply wouldn’t be able to afford it.

I’m sure that is the root of the nursing shortages. My daughter started her training in 1981 and is now a sister in intensive care after studying for a degree in her own time.

She agrees with me that the start of the decline in nurses was Project 2,000 training at university and the axing of the small bursary. Mrs EILEEN HARDY, Farnborough, Hants.