A sharp drop in applicants to nursing courses for the next academic year has led to calls for ministers to fund emergency measures to support students.
New figures from university admissions service UCAS show a 26% collapse in student nurse applications in England in just two years despite the government’s Long Term Workforce Plan for the NHS.
The Royal College of Nursing, in response to the decline, has called on the government to use the budget on 6 March to fund emergency measures, including removing student loans for future nurses to rapidly increase applications.
A letter to health secretary Victoria Atkins from RCN chief executive Pat Cullen stated: “Failure to address these critical issues will make the ambitions set out in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan unattainable, leaving the health care system dangerously understaffed and unable to meet the growing demands of patients”.
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The figures from UCAS released today (15 February) show there were 24,680 nursing applicants to education providers in England this year, compared with 27,370 applicants in 2023 and 33,410 in 2022. This represents a 10% fall in the past year and a 26% fall in the past two years. The RCN warned that this posed “a direct threat to the sustainability of the NHS and patient safety”.
There was also a sharp decline in the number of of mature students from the UK applying for nursing degrees offered by education providers in England, from 18,980 in 2021 to 11,190 in 2024. Historically, many have chosen nursing as a second career, said the RCN.
Cullen’s letter to Atkins stated that the figures exposed “a widening gap between the aspirations of the plan and the level of political effort required to make them a reality. This needs immediate intervention and corrective action to protect patients now and in the future.
“A decline in applicants risks causing a cascading effect, with fewer students accepted onto nursing courses leading to diminished course cohorts and eventually lower numbers graduating and becoming registered nurses.”
She said the situation posed a direct threat to the sustainability of the NHS and patient safety, considering the existing 10.3% vacancy rate in nursing positions within the NHS in England.
Measures to combat the fall in applicants included extra funding to cover student tuition fees – eliminating the financial burden associated with nursing education would attract a wider pool of potential candidates and promote social mobility within the profession, the RCN said.
The nursing body also suggested implementing a loan forgiveness scheme for NHS nurses. This would relieve financial pressure on registered nurses working in the NHS, incentivising them to remain in the public health care system and contribute to long-term workforce stability.
Further reforms could see the reintroduction of universal living maintenance grants so students can focus on their studies without experiencing financial or emotional hardship. This would improve student retention, said the RCN.
Meanwhile, more than 700 NHS nurses are being investigated for providing suspected fraudulent qualifications. The nurses involved are thought to have used surrogates to take their qualifying test at Yunnik test centre in Nigeria, allowing them to become registered to work in the UK.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has asked 48 of the nurses already working in the NHS to retake the test, to prove they are qualified to treat patients. Those nurses will also face individual hearings to clarify how they took, and passed, the test.
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