By Robert Kilgour, Chairman, Renaissance Care

AT the SNP’s annual conference the First Minister announced that bursaries for student nurses, which were retained in Scotland after being scrapped south of the Border, will be increased from just over £6,500 a year to £10,000 a year by the year 2020-21.

This will undoubtedly help Scotland attract more people into nursing as the recruitment challenge which already faces the health service and the care home sector becomes even more challenging in the wake of Brexit as many EU workers may go home – in addition to nurses who retire or leave the profession having to be replaced.

I talk with particular knowledge of the care home sector as 30 per cent of my company’s staff come from the EU and other overseas countries, and from the end of March we don’t know what rights they will have re continued employment or residency. The same applies to the NHS, and so both sectors need a pipeline of career-orientated nurses entering the profession.

Unfortunately, at a time when this need is increasing, the Westminster Government has gone down the road of telling English students thinking of entering the profession that instead of receiving a non-repayable bursary as in the past, they must instead take out a student loans that could amount to £50,000 debt by the time they qualify.

Changes to the NHS bursary scheme in England were first proposed by then Chancellor George Osborne in November 2015, and when the proposal went to consultation the BMA warned scrapping bursary support could harm recruitment rates among nurses. In a statement it said: “This is likely to have a detrimental effect on the recruitment of staff who are not able or willing to accumulate significant debt. In turn, there would be a disproportionate effect on prospective students from lower socio-economic group, which will weaken the diversity of the NHS workforce” and added, “we believe that fewer people will pursue health careers if facing a future saddled with debt”.

Janet Davies, general secretary and chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said “anything that makes people worse off and puts people off from becoming nurses and reduces links between student nurses and the NHS would be a big loss to our society and puts us in a precarious position.”

Then Health Minister Ben Gummer defended the plans, saying extra training places would be provided, and cited statistics showing the number of people going to university rose significantly since tuition fees were increased by the coalition government as evidence that the changes would not act as a barrier.

He has been proven to be incorrect, and the concerns of the BMA and RCN very much on the mark.

Data from universities admissions service UCAS shows that applications for nursing degrees in England have fallen since the UK Government scrapped the bursary in favour of loans. Applications for undergraduate degree courses in nursing have plummeted by 32 per cent in England since the decision was implemented in autumn 2017, despite the dire warnings that it would backfire.

Applications from mature students to study mental health and disability nursing have fallen even more sharply – by 40 per cent – and this year interest has dwindled so dramatically that it’s said some English universities are considering axing their specialist courses.

The corresponding reduction in nursing students entering degree courses in Scotland has been tiny, around three per cent, and the generous increase in bursary promised soon by the First Minister is certain to turn that figure into a positive.

So there is little doubt the Scottish Government deserves plaudits for getting this vitally important health issue right, with the UK Government disastrously wrong.