Posted 19 July 2023 - 08:53
Posted 19 July 2023 - 08:53
News
Nurses-as-angels trope blamed for fall in degree applications
Lack of professional recognition, NHS pay disputes and tuition fees are deterring potential nursing recruits, say nurses and nursing students
Lack of professional recognition, NHS pay disputes and tuition fees are deterring potential nursing recruits, say nurses and nursing students
The idea nurses are heroes and angels is damaging to the profession and needs to be rejected to attract more recruits, as degree applications slumped again this year, say nurses and students.
Last week, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) revealed a 16% drop in applications for UK nursing degrees, prompting concerns for an NHS workforce already struggling with high vacancy levels.
Financial support – or lack of it – a key disincentive to studying nursing
Nursing students and nurses have shared their views on social media about how to attract recruits to the profession. Many said the abolition of the student bursary, high tuition fees, unclear financial entitlements and unpaid clinical placements made degrees untenable for many. Others said the NHS workforce crisis, pay disputes and huge demand on the health service had made nursing an unappealing career.
One nurse, Alisha said: ‘Free study and accommodation. I am still paying off my student loan and haven't even got past the interest payments yet. Paying to be in an underpaid profession is abhorrent.’
‘Angels don’t need good pay or working conditions’
Tyler Warburton, associate dean of nursing and midwifery, University of Central Lancashire
Third year nursing student Tiffany Elstone said a better work-life balance would make the course more attractive., adding: ‘This year, I've been doing 40 hours on placement a week, travelling 18 hours a week to get to placements, while doing four assignments. I'm burnt-out already.’
Significant drop in undergraduate nursing applications
UCAS figures show that applications to study undergraduate nursing in the UK fell 16% from 52,150 in 2022 to 43,920 in 2023. In contrast, applications to study computing courses surged by almost 10%.
University of Central Lancashire associate dean of nursing and midwifery Tyler Warburton told Nursing Standard the perpetuation of the ‘angels and heroes’ image by the government and media is unhelpful.
‘The image of nursing has not been right for a number of years. There are a lot of tropes that keep coming up in the media that are hammering the nail in the coffin really,’ he said.
‘I did some work recently exploring professional identity and the huge thing that came out of those conversations was an overwhelming desire to be seen as a degree-holding, intelligent and decision-making professionals, not a hero or an angel swooping in. But the mainstream media push this, and it is hugely damaging, especially because angels don’t need good pay or working conditions.’
Write-off tuition fee debts after period of NHS service
Newman University head of nursing Kevin Crimmons added: ‘The biggest contribution the government could make to aid recruitment to nursing programmes and the retention of qualified nurses would be to write off tuition fees when graduates had spent three to five years in NHS settings.
‘This would demonstrate appreciation and recognition of the large contribution student nurses make in their clinical placement areas.’
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