Nurses bursaries are a good idea

Editor - I was disturbed to read the views of Holly Thomas on the recent budget.¹ Most medical students would welcome an NHS bursary and payment of tuition fees with open arms, but the reason why this money is given to nurses and not medical students seems obvious. Getting a place at medical school is tough: there were 10226 applicants for the 5714 places available in 2000.²

Nurses, however, are in shortage. Few want to go into a demoralised profession, in which long hours are the norm, for little reward. The number of student nurses halved between 1985 and 1995, and with 20% of nurses older than fifty, the profession stands to lose a large bulk of its workers through retirement soon.³ It is no surprise that the government are desperate to recruit more, providing the incentives of a means tested bursary and paid tuition fees.

This does not mean that student nurses are loaded. Far from it; the means tested bursary frequently leaves students with a “bursary of nil,” and the red tape in place then leaves a student nurse with only £1500 ($2200; €2400) of reduced loan to last the year (due to the non-existent bursary).

Does Thomas resent this kind of support for nurses? I was given the impression she thought nurses were little more than glorified healthcare assistants, despite the huge differences in training, qualifications, and input into patient management.

I agree that NHS reform should encompass every aspect of patient care; the recent pay rise for preregistration house officers, increased effort to recruit nurses, and more opportunity for healthcare assistants to gain further qualifications are trying to do just that.

Without incentives for nurses to train, wards will soon feel the strain. Im sure that a severe lack of nurses would certainly not be a vote winner, but is improving conditions for nurses merely playing on public sympathies? I hope not.

Paula Boughey, fourth year medical student, University of Manchester
Email: pboughey@hotmail.com

Rebecca Norman final year nursing student North East Wales Institute of Higher Education


studentBMJ 2002;10:215-258 July ISSN 0966-6494

1. Thomas H. Budget does not consider whole NHS picture. studentBMJ 2002;10:206. http://studentbmj.com/back_issues/0602/letters/letter1.html (June.)
2. UCAS. Annual statistical tables 1994 to 2000 entry. www.ucas.co.uk/figures/archive/download/index.html (accessed 27 May 2002).
3. Buchan J. The “greying” of the United Kingdom nursing workforce: implications for employment policy and practice. J Adv Nurs 1999;30:818-26.