Ryan FowlerA staggering 32,000 student nurses might abandon their courses by the end of the next parliament, a figure sufficient to fill all current nursing vacancies within the NHS in England, according to new analysis released by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN). The primary reasons cited for this alarming trend include financial pressures, struggling services, and diminishing pay prospects.
The RCN has highlighted that without urgent measures to enhance the appeal of nursing as a career, including alleviating financial burdens and improving compensation, the dropout rate could see 32,225 students leaving their nursing courses by 2029. This exodus could significantly derail the government’s efforts to reform the NHS, which has been described as ‘broken’.
This revelation coincides with the UK government’s proposal of a mere 2.8% pay increase for NHS nurses in England, which has been met with criticism given the current economic climate. The analysis by the RCN, based on data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, shows a consistent dropout rate of 21% since the cessation of nursing bursaries in 2016.
Nursing students currently face tuition fees of £9,250 annually, soon to increase to £9,535 in 2025, without the aid of universal maintenance grants for living expenses. An earlier RCN survey indicated that seven out of ten students are contemplating quitting due to financial constraints, a situation exacerbated by findings from the Nuffield Trust that some students struggle with basic living costs.
To counteract this crisis, the RCN proposes several solutions, including a loan forgiveness scheme for those who commit to working in the NHS or public services, alongside the reinstatement of universal maintenance grants. These measures, they argue, would not only reduce dropout rates but also make nursing a more attractive career path by addressing both the debt burden and living expenses.
The unique nature of nursing education, which mandates thousands of clinical hours alongside academic study, further complicates students’ financial situations as it restricts their ability to take on additional paid work.
With 31,774 nursing vacancies currently in the English health service, the situation is dire. RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger commented:
“The students of today are the nurses of the future. But for tens of thousands, the unbearable weight of graduate debt, lack of support with living costs and prospect of low pay is set to push them out of the profession before they qualify. This is a tragedy for them and patients.
“To deliver the government’s NHS reforms we need to supercharge recruitment into nursing, but we can’t do that with a broken education model or more real terms pay cuts. Ministers should change course and agree a social contract with nursing students that sees pay rise and loans forgiven if they commit to working in public services.
“Transforming care cannot happen without investment to transform nursing. That means changing the way we recruit into th
