Editorial

Bursary-v-loans battle is a chance for change

They came in their hundreds, from all over the UK. Nursing students and their supporters converged on Whitehall to stand outside the Department of Health and voice their protests at plans to scrap bursaries and end free tuition for nursing students.

They came in their hundreds, from all over the UK. Nursing students and their supporters converged on Whitehall to stand outside the Department of Health and voice their protests at plans to scrap bursaries and end free tuition for nursing students.

Earlier the same day, health secretary Jeremy Hunt had attempted to defend the policy when he met England’s most influential senior nurses at the chief nursing officer’s annual summit in Birmingham. He argued – rightly – that the current system is not working, given that thousands of would-be nurses cannot get themselves onto courses, anything up to one quarter of students drop out early, and such is the shortage of nurses that the NHS plunders staff from overseas and racks up agency bills.

If the government digs in its heels, it should at least increase starting salaries

But he failed to carry the room in his assertion that transforming bursaries into loans and charging fees running into tens of thousands of pounds is the solution. Unison’s head of nursing Gail Adams received an ovation when she challenged Mr Hunt, and this from a group of nurse directors and senior managers not known for expressing their views to ministers in this way.

Feelings are running high, with a petition against the government’s plans garnering so many signatures in a week that MPs will hold a special debate on the issue next week. Now is the time for nurses and their leaders to lobby their representatives, not in search of a U-turn but of an alternative.

For starters, the government could do worse than return to the original proposals put forward by the Council of Deans of Health, which offered nurses the chance to avoid repaying their fees and loans on certain conditions, such as if they work in the NHS for a defined period.

If the government digs in its heels, the least it should do is introduce a significant increase in nurses’ starting salaries so that those beginning their careers in 2020 have half a chance of getting by while repaying their debts.

oin the campaign against the government’s plans by using #bursaryorbust on Twitter

Jobs