Is it really bursary or bust? Simon Stevens stirs the pot

摘要

In England, the bursary for student nurses was removed in 2017 when they also became liable to pay tuition fees.1 The aim was to reduce the cap on student nurse numbers. While the cynics among us may think the real reason was to reduce the ￡1 billion spent on non-medical pre-registration education each year, the Council of Deans of Health (CoDH) supported the move. They argued that in addition to removing the cap on numbers the change in financing nurse education would leave student nurses better off financially during their pre-registration nursing course.2 The CoDH later acknowledged that the subsequent reduction in applicants was more than expected.3