STUDENT nurses and midwives are lobbying parliament today in opposition to Tory plans to end the student bursaries by August 2017.
And a national march on Westminster has also been called on Saturday June 4th in protest against scrapping the bursaries. The march is being organised by the student-led Bursary or Bust campaign.
The union Unite said: ‘The Tories plan to cut student nurses bursaries and replace them with loans. After August 2017 nursing courses will be fee paying, leaving students with more than £50,000 of debt if they undertake a three year degree. Saddling students with a lifetime of debt – which most of them will never be able to pay off – will massively deter those wanting to enter nursing and the other health professions covered by the bursary.
‘It will affect people studying a range of professions including nursing, speech and language therapy, radiology, occupational therapy, mental health nursing and midwifery.’
Sarah Cook, head of Health at Unite, said: ‘The bursaries must be restored. When you think about nurses working and training in London where everything else is very expensive it is particularly difficult. If they get rid of the bursaries, that will mean that a number of students from less well off backgrounds will not have access to education which, in turn, will impact on the numbers of qualified staff going forward.’
Louise Silverton, Director for Midwifery at the Royal College of Midwives, said: ‘The consequences of scrapping bursaries for student midwives and nurses is detrimental to an already understaffed midwifery profession. Women with children and those who already have a first degree will be particularly hit hard if these proposals go ahead, as many of these women already make up a large proportion of our current midwifery student base.
‘With potentially catastrophic debts and little prospect of earning to offset these costs, we are concerned that the changes will act as a deterrent to aspiring students and will drastically reduce the number of applicants for pre-registration midwifery programmes.’
