Health Visitors: Nursing Degree and Tuition Fees

health visitors: The abolition of the bursaries that previously paid the tuition fees of students doing a first nursing degree, as well as providing them with maintenance grants, was one of the worst decisions taken by the Cameron government since the devolved administrations continued to fund them, this is an issue specific to England; and since 89% of nurses and health visitors are female, policies concerning them must also be viewed through the lens of gender . Applications from first-time students for nursing degrees fell from 52,740 in 2016 to 39,665 in 2019, according to The Guardian. The fall in the number of mature applicants between 2016 and 2018 was even steeper at 40%, and a particular concern in specialisms such as mental health, learning disability and midwifery, to which they are seen to bring valuable life experience. The 323,000 registered nurses working in the NHS in England are the biggest staff group there are 146,000 doctors . While staff shortages are an issue across the service and increasingly understood not only as a national issue but as a global one predictions that the current figure of 43,000 NHS nursing vacancies could rise to almost 70,000 by 2023-24 have clearly focused minds. Without qualified staff, hospitals and health trusts cannot function properly. Retention of staff is just as important as recruitment, since there is not much point in training and hiring people if you cannot hold on to them. But the new 5,000-a-year grant which will increase to 8,000 for some students should be viewed as an important first step on a longer road to improving nursing, and not as a final destination. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.