Today’s UCAS figures show that the number of students accepted to study nursing degrees in England has fallen by 20% over the past three years, as the Royal College of Nursing now urges the government to intervene and overhaul the “failing” nurse recruitment program.
With only 13,870 students placed on courses for 2024–2025 on A-level results day, a significantly smaller number of students can be expected to start nursing courses in the coming autumn than in each of the past two years. The proportion of mature students accepted into nursing courses has dropped by almost a quarter – 24% – since 2021. Nursing is much more heavily reliant on older students as part of its intake compared with other degrees.
This is the second intake of new nursing students since the announcement of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, and the workforce program is further off course due to additional falls.
The RCN is returning to its calls for the ministers to act now and give financial incentives to nursing students, which include two additions that it feels are necessary to be implemented to improve recruitment in the short, medium, and long term: that of publicly supported nursing degrees and universal living maintenance subsidies.
Back in 2016, the then-Conservative government scrapped the exemption for nursing degrees and other financial support. Since then, nursing students have had to pay tuition fees—currently £9,250 per year for a nursing degree—since 2017.
The RCN believes that the incoming administration should intervene to make nursing a more attractive career choice in the first place as a long-term solution to nursing’s lack of employment and retention problems. This would result in safer working conditions, higher pay, and more financing for the daily services provided by nursing personnel.
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The reality is that they require a lot more students to piggyback on the current acceptances into pre-registration nursing programs if they are to enjoy a wonderful and fulfilling career,” said the Executive Director for RCN England, following years of a three-year downward trajectory of 20%, which once more caused a decline in the number of people entering the field. A nursing recruitment policy that is failing in front of their eyes is the worsening labor problem.
Ministers will have to offer proper financial incentives if they expect young people to choose nursing as a career. For eligible students, these will need to include measures to improve salary and terms of service as well as full reimbursement of fees for government-funded degrees and universal living maintenance grants.
What is particularly atrocious, though, is the 25% drop in mature student entrants. These are ideal candidates for nursing; already having wide life experience, they bring a lot to the profession and to the people with whom they work. However, they are being put off by their system of relatively meager financial support for individuals who very frequently just as much have significant caregiving and other obligations of their own as by their huge debt.
Patient needs are not only becoming more complex, but also the demand for health and care services is rising among the populace. They have to change the way they recruit new members of our profession if they are to meet the government’s pledge to change.
In summary, the current drop in the numbers of recruited nurses across the USA raises many challenges to the health systems, given the high demand, hence the need to offer variety in inpatient care. The shortage of professional nurses impacts not only the care given to the patients but also overburdens the existing health workers, leading them to burnout and lower job satisfaction.
It demands creative ways to solve the crisis; this is where Dynamic Health Staff comes in. DHS specializes in linking health facilities with well-trained and qualified nursing professionals from all over the world.
We can help bridge the gap created by shortages in the domestic market with their wide network and expertise in international recruitment. With their skill and network in recruitment overseas, domestic shortages are bridged. We can place well-prepared nurses in culture-competent environments with a state-of-the-art approach to the seamless transition of working in the USA.
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