THE Government has recently delivered a crushing blow to future nursing students in this region by removing the provision of student bursaries – the vital financial support that helps many to complete their studies and become the nurses of the future.

Without this essential support, many of us, who are currently studying to enter this challenging but rewarding profession, would not have had the opportunity to fulfil our dreams of becoming a nurse and in doing so make a valuable contribution to society, unconditionally caring for your friends and relatives at the times they need it most.

The system of nurse training does not need to be exempt from scrutiny, especially in the current financial climate, but any changes should be implemented through full consultation and a coherent approach, with a view to developing an evidence based rationale to long-term workforce planning. This should not simply be a drive to reduce the costs of training.

As a student representative, I have received concerns from many students. Nursing degrees have substantially increased term times compared with other degrees, and nursing students spend 50 per cent of their degree working full time in healthcare placements which include both sociable and unsociable shift patterns. This all serves to reduce their ability to secure any regular employment. Many student nurses, including myself, are older and have families to support whilst studying.

With average nursing salaries low compared to many other degree professions, nursing students are clearly not in this for the money. Taking away the bursaries and replacing them with loans will only serve to pile on more personal financial pressure to an already overstretched part of the health care workforce, causing increasing hardship to some of the most caring and selfless members of our society. In addition, many students may never be able to pay back the loans, removing any perceived financial benefit.

Student nurses are the profession’s future and their relationship with the NHS is crucial. This decision risks severing that link and, in doing so, the government is effectively absolving itself of the critical responsibility of ensuring that the right numbers of nurses are in the right place and with the right skills to care for an ageing population with increasingly complex needs. A move to a model of training guided by an open market philosophy, is very concerning as it unlikely to appropriately provide for future NHS staffing requirements.

I am disappointed that the Royal College of Nursing, with its long track record in nurse education, was not consulted on these plans and hope that we are allowed to work with the government on a solution that looks at these very real risks and concerns and finds ways to mitigate them. The future of nursing must be protected. Our patients deserve nothing less.

Colin Revell, RCN student committee member, South West region