29E Back to the future!
Emergency resolution submitted by the RCN Welsh Board
That this meeting of RCN Congress lobbies the governments of the UK to stop reducing the number of pre-registration nurse training places
- Work led by the Public Policy Committee with input from the Nursing Development Committee and Membership, Representation and Diversity Committee
- Lead RCN Council member: Kathleen McCourt
This emergency resolution was initiated by the reduction in the commissioning of student places for pre- registration education programmes experienced by UK universities. Prior to 2005-2006, funding was effectively ring-fenced for education and training purposes, but during 2005-2006 some NHS providers started to use education and training funding to offset deficits in their wider health economies. In 2006-2007, any remaining ring-fencing around education budgets was overtly removed when funding for education and training was included in a ‘bundle’ of central budgets. Maximum flexibility was given to NHS health care providers to manage their financial position and address deficits in their own particular area. In addition, education funding was used to create a contingency fund for strategic health authorities in England.
As a result, there was an average 10 per cent cut in the numbers of new students in nursing, midwifery and the allied health professions commissioned for the 2006-2007 academic year. In addition, there was at least a 10 per cent reduction in post-registration and continuing professional development commissions.
Debate at Congress 2007 centred on the need for stability in student numbers, if future high-quality patient care is to be assured, and that deficits-driven cuts in training budgets — and a ‘boom or bust’ style of managing nurse training — lead to UK nurse shortages and contribute to poor quality patient care. It was highlighted that any short-term approach to nurse education must be influenced by a new focus on primary care service needs, a review of NHS versus higher education funding, and better workforce planning in response to the retiring workforce.
In 2007 the RCN contributed to a number of significant national policy developments which will influence student numbers in the future. In particular, the Modernising nursing careers pre-registration review (UK wide) and Career pathway review (England only). At the time of writing this report, work is underway — as part of the Modernising working careers workplan — on an options paper on which to base future RCN position on the funding of pre-registration education. Also, a seminar of key stakeholders (educators, providers and commissioners) was held at the RCN Education Conference in February 2008 which identified key elements and guiding principles that will underpin future student funding to support greater consistency of commissioning, and assist in the development of mechanisms to ensure the mobility of students is fully understood.