Posted 18 May 2023 - 09:00
Posted 18 May 2023 - 09:00
News
Cutting nursing student numbers branded a ‘pound-foolish’ decision
Northern Ireland student places fall by 300 in a move the RCN says will cause ‘irreparable damage’ to patient care; the government says budgetary constraints gave it no option
Northern Ireland student places fall by 300 in a move the RCN says will cause ‘irreparable damage’ to patient care; the government says budgetary constraints gave it no option
A decision to cut hundreds of nursing student places in Northern Ireland has been branded a ‘pound-foolish’ approach.
The Department of Health in Northern Ireland has reduced nursing student places for 2023-24 to 1,025 – a drop of 300.
Reduction follows period of rising student numbers
The DH said it was making decisions on spending reductions with ‘great regret’ and understands the concerns being raised, but added that budgetary constraints are ‘not a circle that we can square’.
The funded baseline figure of 1,025 places was in place by 2020, the DH said. Strikes by nurses led to nursing student numbers being boosted in January 2020 as part of a new political deal that promised to deliver an extra 900 nursing and midwifery undergraduate places over three years. The deal aimed to address staff shortages in the health service.
Northern Ireland nurses ‘angered beyond belief’
RCN Northern Ireland director Rita Devlin said the move to reduce numbers would do ‘irreparable damage’ to patient care.
‘It is unimaginable that the DH has been put in the position of having to cut the number of nursing student places for 2023-24 because of the political and financial crisis in Northern Ireland.
‘This is a penny-wise, pound-foolish approach to workforce planning, and nurses in Northern Ireland will be angered beyond belief at this latest move.
‘We are back to square one, and the consequences for the health and well-being of the people of Northern Ireland will be draconian.’
Northern Ireland members criticise cut at RCN congress
Ms Devlin warned that previous reductions in nursing student numbers between 2010 and 2015 helped create the current workforce crisis. There are around 3,000 nursing vacancies in the country, according to the RCN.
Members of the RCN Northern Ireland branch spoke out against the decision at the college’s annual congress in Brighton.
Preregistration nursing student places in Northern Ireland since 2015
- 2015-16: 712
- 2016-17: 801
- 2017-18: 901
- 2018-19: 1,000
- 2019-20: 1,025
- 2020-21: 1,325
- 2021-22: 1,325
- 2022-23: 1,325
Source: RCN Northern Ireland
‘Proposals to reduce nurse training places are unacceptable’
Unison NI head of bargaining and representation Anne Speed said: ‘We cannot deal with major workforce issues and improve outcomes for the public without investing in developing the nurses that the health service needs.’
Health unions met with secretary of state for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris today to discuss funding for the health service.
‘We will make clear to the secretary of state that he cannot withhold funding that should flow through the Barnett formula to the Department of Health for a decent pay offer for health workers here,’ Ms Speed said before the meeting.
‘We will also make it clear to him that proposals to reduce nurse training places are unacceptable and that our health service needs to be properly resourced.’
The Department of Health said it would look to expand nursing places in future ‘if the funding permits’.
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