Responding to the Government announcement of funding for student nurses, Dame Donna Kinnair, Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing said:
“With tens of thousands of vacant nurse jobs in England, serious measures are needed and this grant is a first victory for the campaign that our student nurses are running. This announcement will hopefully encourage more people to apply to a nursing degree by the mid-January deadline. However, the new maintenance grants must be enough to cover students’ actual living costs.
“In the run up to the Budget, we continue to call for our students to be given tuition fee support too. Any barriers for people wanting to enter nursing must be removed.
“The nurses at work today need to feel valued but also confident that the staffing shortages are being addressed with adequate investment. The RCN is calling for at least £1 billion extra per year to be invested in nurse higher education as part of ensuring patients and the public can access safe and effective health and care services”.
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