Government must fix broken nurse education model

The RCN is warning that entire regions in England are being left behind by a failing nurse education system as our new analysis reveals that the number of people studying to become nurses has collapsed in every region in England. This is putting the government’s plan to rescue the NHS at risk. 

The latest regional data from the university admissions service, UCAS, shows the number of people accepted onto nursing courses fell by up to 40% in parts of England between 2020 and 2023.  

This comes just one week after the government launched its 10-Year Plan consultation to fix a “broken NHS”. A properly staffed NHS is crucial to delivering the government’s own ambitions to get NHS services back on track, shifting care from hospital to community.   

We’re urging the government to introduce financial incentives, including a loan forgiveness model for students who commit to working in the NHS following graduation and funding for living costs. This is vital to improve recruitment into the profession.  

Changes made in 2016 saw bursaries for nurse education scrapped, meaning students now pay more than £9,000 each year to join the profession.  

Nursing students need specific funding commitments to reflect their unique circumstances and to encourage more domestic recruitment. They complete thousands of placement hours as part of their training, working full days in services on top of assignments, supporting other staff and patients.   

RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger said: “Nursing is an incredible career, but to fix a broken NHS, the government must fix a broken nurse education model.  

“We desperately need more people to join the profession, but the reality is nursing numbers are going in the wrong direction.  

“Ministers are right to want to modernise the NHS and shift care into the community, but to do that you must make nursing an attractive career once again. That means forgiving the tuition fee loans of those who commit to working in the health service and funding their living costs. Investment in nursing is always money well spent.”  

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan aims to grow the nursing workforce from around 350,000 nurses to around 550,000 in 2036/37.  

Last week, the RCN – alongside other organisations working in health care – wrote to the new Chair of the Public Accounts Committee to raise significant concerns about these projections. Our analysis shows the plan is not yet affecting numbers, with just 1,000 extra people a year currently forecast to start nursing courses in 2029 compared with a decade earlier. There are currently more than 31,000 unfilled nursing posts in England’s NHS.