Even though there has been a small increase on last year, it would appear that the latest figures from UCAS do show some nursing degree applications have fallen by well over 13,000. The RCN has tried to warn people that the NHS long-term plan really doesn’t have a chance at succeeding if the decline in applications is not reversed. The college is working hard to try and invest £1bn a year in the education for England to try and stop the trend from continuing. The figures have been released from UCAS and they all show that the amount of studying has fallen as well. This has happened since the year 2011 and now there are 40,000 vacancies available for nurses in England. The RCN has stated that the fall in numbers jeopardises the future supply of nurses and it also puts the students at risk as well.

The RCN acting chief, who is Dame Donna Kinnair has stated that these figures really do show the scale of the workforce and the challenges that they happen to face. The failure to act now really does risk patient care for the entire generation. Applicant numbers really are showing no signs of recovery here and if you do not act then you risk the level of patient care for the entire generation. It’s safe to say that the long-term plan really does deserve to succeed but it is unable to do this unless you have the nurses to do this. The applicant numbers are showing no signs of recovering and this is because the level of student funding has been reduced. This is especially the case when you look at the homes, the funding, the schools and even the clinics too.

The figures that the number of mature students are showing is on an even bigger decline and this could mean bigger issues for those who work in a nurse agency or for those who go through a nursing recruitment agency.