The number of students accepted on nursing degree courses has suffered a further collapse, according to figures published by UCAS this month (September 2024).
Just 23,800 applicants have accepted offers to study nursing this year, down by a fifth since 2021, when 30,150 were accepted onto university courses. This year’s figure is even lower than the previous low point in 2019, when 23,900 nursing students were offered places.
Responding to the latest figures, Executive Director of RCN England Patricia Marquis said: ‘The continuing collapse in the number of people accepted onto nursing courses should act as a warning sign to government of the urgent need to act. Ignoring this now would be an act of abandonment at a time of crisis.
‘Only this week, Dame Ruth May, the former chief nursing officer, said the removal of the nursing bursary was a “catastrophic decision”. Now, the new government can right that wrong with a commitment to nurse education, including funding of tuition fees and ensuring every recent graduate of nursing has a job, to attract and retain the nursing staff needed to deliver for patients.’
She added that, if the health secretary Wes Streeting wants his ‘fundamental change of approach’ to succeed, it must start with the nursing workforce and attracting more people to the profession.
‘As the health of millions of patients deteriorates while on waiting lists, tens of thousands of nursing posts remain vacant. The failure to attract more into nursing puts the profession and the future of patient care at risk.’
The nursing bursary was discontinued in 2017, in a move to free universities to offer more nursing degree places, which was widely predicted to backfire. Since then there has been a progressive decline in the number of applicants, particularly among mature students. Other factors in the decline in student numbers include low starting salaries for nurses and cost of living pressures.
