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The number of applications to nursing courses at UK universities has fallen sharply, prompting the Royal College of Nursing to call for emergency measures to boost recruitment and address NHS staff shortages.
The number of nurse student applicants fell 7.4 per cent in January compared with the previous year, according to data from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, leaving the government far behind on its targets to expand nursing training.
Last month 31,100 people had applied for nursing for the 2024-25 academic year, down from 33,570 the previous year, UCAS said on Thursday. This is the lowest level since 2019, when collection of the data began.
The RCN union warned in a letter to the health secretary on Thursday that the drop was a “direct threat” to patient safety and could make the ambitions set out in the NHS long-term workforce plan unattainable.
“These latest figures expose a widening gap between the aspirations of the plan and the level of political effort required to make them a reality. This needs immediate intervention and corrective action to protect patients now and in the future,” wrote RCN leader Pat Cullen.
The nursing profession registered a rapid uptick in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic, dubbed the “Chris Whitty effect” after England’s chief medical officer who gained a high profile at the time.
However, since the pandemic training numbers have fallen with the recent drop to below pre-Covid levels suggesting recruitment issues are more entrenched, as health experts warn that low pay and industrial disputes are putting off would-be student nurses.
“There are deep concerns not just about a real drop in wages but also about significant staffing shortages,” said James Buchan, senior fellow at the Health Foundation, a research organisation.
“Concerns about stress and workload have been exacerbated by the strikes by nurses in England last year . . . and there have been growing concerns about inflation and the significant financial burden of student loans.”
Under the government’s workforce plan, which applies to England only, the number of nursing training places needs to increase by 65 to 80 per cent by 2030-31 compared with 2022 levels.
Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive at NHS Providers, said the workforce plan risked amounting to “nothing more than a pipe dream” without adequate measures to make the NHS attractive to current and future staff.
“Trust leaders will be extremely worried by the significant drop in applicants for nursing courses over the past two years, especially as the NHS is grappling with over 121,000 workforce vacancies, of which 42,000 are in nursing,” she said.
The UCAS data covered university and college applications for the 2023-24 academic year up to January, the deadline by which course providers are required to consider requests. About 70 per cent of nursing students usually apply by this point in the admissions cycle.
Demand for university places fell across all specialisms, with particularly sharp declines in adult nursing and mental health. The number of applicants aged 35 and over, who make up about one in five prospective nursing students, fell by 13 per cent.
The Ucas data showed that overall application numbers for undergraduate courses were broadly in line with this point in the admissions cycle last year, with a 0.5 per cent fall in domestic applicants and a 0.7 per cent rise in applications from overseas.
A record 95,840 people applied from outside the EU by the January deadline, up from 94,410 in 2023, although most overseas students apply later on in the cycle. The numbers follow concerns from university leaders over the financial impact of demand cooling from international markets.
The Department of Health and Social Care said: “The number of applicants still continues to outstrip the places on offer. Nursing and midwifery training places are competitive, and lead to an attractive and important career in the NHS.
“Record numbers of nurses are now working in the NHS, and the first ever NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan will add 24,000 more nurse and midwifery training places by 2031 — backed by over £2.4bn.”
