Responding to the Health Secretary's announcement on nursing apprenticeships, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger, said:

“Today’s announcement can help further widen access to nursing, which is a wonderful career and shouldn’t be out of reach for anyone. However, the biggest barrier to those from poorer backgrounds isn’t necessarily a lack of apprenticeships but a broken tuition fee model. The traditional university route is the main supply of new nurses into health and care but students face huge debt, while inadequate financial support during their studies pushes them further into poverty. Apprenticeships have a role to play in widening participation, but they aren’t the total solution to a deeper crisis in nurse education which is causing applications to collapse.  

"There are workforce shortages everywhere, which is why we’d have liked to see more ambition from government. That would have meant new apprenticeship roles being added across the entire NHS in England, not a relatively small number in only the areas struggling most. We now need more funding for the additional costs of training an apprentice, including for rota cover while they attend the university part of their training, so employers can keep up financially.   

“If ministers want to transform care and meet growing patient demand, then the upcoming ten year workforce plan must focus on establishing a robust and sustainable domestic pipeline of new nurses. This includes changes to the apprenticeship levy to ensure it covers all costs, but crucially major reforms to nurse higher education, including the introduction of a tuition fee loan forgiveness model for those who commit to working in public services.” 

ENDS