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Labour will create 1,000 extra nurse training places on first day

Ed Miliband to announce the additional places will be created this summer, if his party is elected

An extra 1,000 nurse training places will be created immediately by Labour to address the staffing crisis if the party is elected next month.

Universities running oversubscribed nursing courses this year will be asked to reopen admissions, Labour leader Ed Miliband will say in a speech at Manchester Metropolitan University later today.

Mr Miliband will say that Labour ministers will, in their first day in office – if they are elected on May 7 – make more training places available.

In 2014, 30,000 prospective students were turned down because of a lack of places, he will say.

The emergency recruitment drive is the first part of a plan to boost the number of nurses by 20,000.

Mr Miliband will say: ‘Two-thirds of nurses say patients are missing out on care because there aren’t enough nurses on the wards, and today we heard news that one in three NHS trusts were investigated last year because of concerns over safe staffing.’

RCN general secretary Peter Carter said: ‘The NHS is under immense pressure from the shortage of nurses so it is good to see a detailed plan for training more nurses immediately.

‘A long-term workforce plan for the NHS is only possible if we have enough trained nurses to cope with the increasing demanded,’ added Dr Carter. ‘We know there is no shortage of potential nurses and we need the political will to train them and provide a homegrown workforce which can cope with future demands.’