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13/09/2005
Nurses’ debts increasing, survey reveals
The number of student nurses with debts of more than £10,000 has doubled within two years, new research has revealed.
A survey of 2,000 student nurses, conducted by ‘Nursing Times’ and health workers’ union Unison, found that 13% had debts totalling more than £10,000 in 2005, compared to 6% in 2003.
More than half of those surveyed (56%) said that they had considered giving up their training, because of financial problems.
The findings were published as the government revealed plans to change the current NHS bursary system, allowing nursing students to continue to receive their bursary payments during pregnancy and childbirth.
However, although the announcement was welcomed by both Unison and the Royal College of Nursing, there have been calls for the current bursary to be increased.
According to the survey, over two-thirds of student nurses (69%) took on extra work, in order to supplement their £6,000-a-year bursaries, with over half (54%) working more than eleven hours per week, usually as healthcare assistants.
Dave Prentis, Unison General Secretary, suggested that nurses should receive a salary, in order to allow them to concentrate on their studies and placements, while Nursing Times Editor Rachel Downey said that the bursary needed to be increased.
Gill Robertson, Royal College of Nursing Student Nurse Advisor, said: “This is a real and pressing issue for nursing students. They are qualifying with huge debts at a time when the NHS is putting a freeze on recruitment and threatening redundancies because of mounting deficits.
“As our own research shows, many student nurses are leaving before they qualify as a direct result of the financial problems they face during training. With the UK set to face a serious nursing shortfall over the next ten years as many nurses retire, this is an issue that demands the government’s attention.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health said that student nurses also had their fees paid for by the NHS, in addition to the bursary. The spokesperson said: “We believe that the current system of financial support is adequate to support healthcare students in training.”
(KMcA/SP)
A survey of 2,000 student nurses, conducted by ‘Nursing Times’ and health workers’ union Unison, found that 13% had debts totalling more than £10,000 in 2005, compared to 6% in 2003.
More than half of those surveyed (56%) said that they had considered giving up their training, because of financial problems.
The findings were published as the government revealed plans to change the current NHS bursary system, allowing nursing students to continue to receive their bursary payments during pregnancy and childbirth.
However, although the announcement was welcomed by both Unison and the Royal College of Nursing, there have been calls for the current bursary to be increased.
According to the survey, over two-thirds of student nurses (69%) took on extra work, in order to supplement their £6,000-a-year bursaries, with over half (54%) working more than eleven hours per week, usually as healthcare assistants.
Dave Prentis, Unison General Secretary, suggested that nurses should receive a salary, in order to allow them to concentrate on their studies and placements, while Nursing Times Editor Rachel Downey said that the bursary needed to be increased.
Gill Robertson, Royal College of Nursing Student Nurse Advisor, said: “This is a real and pressing issue for nursing students. They are qualifying with huge debts at a time when the NHS is putting a freeze on recruitment and threatening redundancies because of mounting deficits.
“As our own research shows, many student nurses are leaving before they qualify as a direct result of the financial problems they face during training. With the UK set to face a serious nursing shortfall over the next ten years as many nurses retire, this is an issue that demands the government’s attention.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health said that student nurses also had their fees paid for by the NHS, in addition to the bursary. The spokesperson said: “We believe that the current system of financial support is adequate to support healthcare students in training.”
(KMcA/SP)
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NHS to no longer recruit junior foreign nurses
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Government has 'failed' to reverse nursing shortages
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