Mark Radford, Chief Nurse, has unveiled investment plans to support new undergraduate nurses.
To increase nursing capacity, £10m will be invested in clinical placement programmes.
The £10m funding boost builds on foundations laid last year where nursing numbers increased by more than 7,500.
September 2019 saw an additional 1,400 nurses start training.
Previous decline
According to the UCAS end of cycle report in 2019, nursing applications significantly declined after 2016.
2017 saw nursing applications drop by 10,000 from the previous year; 65,000 to 55,000 respectively.
2018 saw the lowest number of applications in a decade, just above 50,000.
2019 applications almost increased back to 55,000 with just over 30,000 being accepted.
From the above application numbers, the number of nurses accepted into training has remained the same year upon year – averaging between 26,000 to 30,000.
The government’s target is to have 50,000 nurses in post by 2023.
Bursary & investment
The government hoped by scrapping the bursary in 2017 would encourage universities to promote more training places and increase nursing numbers.
The above statistics show that when the bursary was removed, applications fell significantly by 23%, although accepted numbers slightly increased.
The government has since reinstated the bursary for September 2020, which equates to £8,000 per year.
The government has also outlined plans to increase learning disability nursing.
The government will invest £2m in 2019/2020 with over 200 additional starters on apprenticeship routes.
To prevent student attrition, the government has outlined a grant for £5k to £8k to support those with financial issues.
Over the period of 2020/2021 the government will invest an additional £1m to further support trusts and their students.
Further investment of up to £10m planned in 20/21 to secure additional clinical placements. This is in response to a 6% increase in Applications.
For CPD, £150m in allocations sent to all trusts and primary care hubs.
HEE will continue to invest £50m for workforce transformation support.
