UCAS have now published an update which talks about the number of people who are applying to study nursing. Those who want to enrol will have to apply by the 30th of June. They have shown that the number of people who are applying is now up by 15% and that this is very good news so far. The increase is positive, says the RCN, but a much bigger increase is needed if the government want to come close to their commitment of having 50,000 more nurses in the UK by the end of the parliament year. Mike Adams who is the RCN director has come out to say that applications have reduced by 17.4% since the year 2016 and this was the final year of the bursary. This means that even if all of the latest applications happened to be accepted, which is not likely, the gap in the workforce would not be closed.

The Pandemic

The pandemic has put extra strain on those who operate a nurse agency and it has also gone on to affect those who work in a nursing recruitment agency too. At the end of the day, the effort that they have shown needs to be done as an investment in nurses for the future. The government have to make sure that they invest properly in domestic nursing and they also need to make sure that the patient need is met over the long-term. If this is to be achieved, then the debt of those who have had to study needs to be wiped. This would show that the government are doing whatever they can to support the current need and it would also help those who need it the most. This isn’t going to be done, however.