The number of people studying to become nurses has collapsed in every region in England, putting the government’s plan to rescue the NHS at risk, an analysis by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has revealed.
Updated regional data from the university admissions service UCAS have confirmed the number of people accepted onto nursing courses fell by up to 40% in parts of England between 2020 and 2023, prompting the RCN to renew its call for a new plan and better financial incentives.
The RCN warned that entire regions were being left behind by a failing nurse education system.
The RCN is urging the government to introduce a loan forgiveness model for students who commit to working in the NHS following graduation, and funding for living costs, which it said was vital to improve recruitment.
In the North East, the hardest-hit region, acceptances onto pre-registration nursing courses have plummeted by 40%. With registered nurses typically going on to work in the region where they study, the RCN is concerned this could mean fewer nurses in the same local areas.
Yorkshire and Humberside and the South West of England saw drops of 25% each. In the other regions, the fall in acceptances was 22% in the East of England, 19% in the South East, 18% in the North West, 15% in the East Midlands, 14% in the West Midlands, and 12% in London.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan aims to grow the nursing workforce from around 350,000 nurses to around 550,000 in 2036/37. However, the RCN’s says there are just 1,000 extra people a year currently forecast to start nursing courses in 2029 compared with a decade earlier. There are currently over 31,000 unfilled nursing posts in England. Figures from The Health Foundation suggest that the number of full time equivalent nurses in general practice could decline by 28% to 12,000 by 2030, from around 17,000 today.
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger said the Government was ‘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 money well spent.’
