Loss of nurses burseries

It depended on the policy of the local authority whether they paid or not (though I have no special knowledge of medical training)

rosesarered that's the exact opposite of my time in University Hospital Coventry last year. My bed was changed every day (what a bother ) and I couldn't believe how thorough the cleaning was on both wards I was on - everything was colour coded so that cross infection was prevented. In fact, when I back was back home, I went out and bought versions of 2 of the cleaning brush thingys used by the cleaners. My water jug was replaced 3 times a day as was a new plastic cup, and the food was fine too - including a choice of vegetarian options. The neurological ward had a matron and at one point she asked my opinion about when a new notice board with information for visitors and patients should be hung. It was weird sight, me moving at a snail's pace with my walking frame and this bustling woman in the dark blue uniform.

One of the reasons permanent staff were so busy has already been mentioned - agency staff were not allowed to carry out all procedures. I needed my cannula moved several times and I had to wait for a permanent nurse (or a doctor) to find time to do this.

www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jan/13/plan-to-end-student-grants-without-commons-vote-outrages-opposition

It's not just nursing bursaries that are going to go. It's all student maintenance grants, and without debating it in parliament.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/109649/signatures/new

It took just 18 MPs to decide that poor students should not have maintenance grants.

www.independent.co.uk/student/news/the-moment-18-mps-in-a-committee-most-people-have-never-heard-of-axed-maintenance-grants-for-england-a6814151.html

Unfortunately for them, the Lords do not like it and are going to debate it, and there is going to be an emergency debate on it in the Commons.

I hope all those voters who feel they have been betrayed by the government tell them so in no uncertain terms at the next election. Hopefully in the same way they told the Lib Dems at the last one.

Wilma do you think it's a possibility that you went back in time to 1955?

I am glad to see that I am not the only one who wishes nursing would revert to the hospital based training which resulted in nurses being proud to wear the badge of their training hospital which had given them a high level of patient centred skills and expertise complemented by relevant underpinning academic knowledge without the need for academic dogma.
Nursing is a vocational occupation. Since Nightingale new skills have been learned and applied without the need for a university awarded degree.
If a degree is still considered a requirement, why can't the RCN become the awarding body following standard hospital training and external examination as before, the SRN could be additionally awarded BSc, SEN's also receive Diploma and HCA's receive certificates.
No need for bursaries or loans, student nurses would receive a salary whilst training (as before) and would drastically cut the requirement for agency nurses... job sorted

Good idea, Joelsnan. My mother was an SEN.

All you have to do is persuade those in control.

Good ideas (and commonsense) - can we put you in charge Joelsnan?

DH's aunts were very proud to have trained at Guy's in London in the 1920s (they were not Londoners, they were young women all the way from Wales).

Just a thought, but why can't nurses and doctors be treated as apprentices while training and paid as apprentices?

Whether people agree with the necessity of having a degree or not, ordinary nurses were not responsible for that decision.

Have those people who think nurses have such a cushy life actually been nurses themselves? Similar criticisms are made of teachers. If everything is so great, why is it so difficult to recruit and retain nurses and teachers? I would imagine that getting rid of the bursary will cause even greater problems with nurse recruitment. It seems that the morale of all the people working in the NHS is at rock bottom.

My husband originally trained as a nurse. He worked very long hours with very poor staffing levels, but he did get paid during his training (enough for us to just about manage to live on). He does feel that some practical and hygiene standards and procedures have deteriorated but surely that is not the fault of the nurse but something that has changed within the whole system. It seems to me that in many jobs these days people seem to have less knowledge and expertise than they used to. I think it must be something to do with the training.

Anybody else find this weird?
Is it a way of running down the NHS even more, and privatising both it and education?

"The government’s labour market experts say most skilled migrants from outside Europe bring scarce new skills to Britain and are higher paid than their British counterparts, but that there are some jobs – especially in the public sector, such as doctors, nurses and teachers – where they undercut UK salaries by up to £6,000 a year.

They recommend that the squeeze on the recruitment of skilled labour from outside Europe, currently running at 151,000 people a year, should include a sharp rise in the minimum salary threshold for jobs filled from overseas from £20,800 to £30,000."

Nobody from outside the UK can be offered a job unless the salary is at least £30,000. That means no junior doctors, nurses or teachers from Africa or Asia. They can come here and train, but cannot take a job here because the starting pay would be too low.