A surge in nursing applications is welcome – but there is more to it than meets the eye

As a nurse, it is heartening to see that applications for training are up by a third, no doubt in part due to the increased attention and value given to the profession during the pandemic. Many of these aspiring nurses will have been motivated and touched by the public warmth and admiration demonstrated by “clap for carers”. But the reason this was newsworthy is that such outpourings of support for health care staff are so rare.

Even before the pandemic we had problems with applicants for nurse training, many of whom seemed to base their prospective career on having watched Casualty or Holby City. Needless to say, even if they successfully secured a training place, these romantic notions were soon challenged when they wiped their first bottom. Retention rates have been problematic in nursing for years, many students realising in the first term the marked difference between their perception and the reality of nursing.

But that’s not the only problem. Encouraging as it is to see applications rise, there are capacity issues with training nurses. For decades, successive health ministers have been unable to resist tinkering with the total number of training places available. Some, no doubt at the treasury’s bequest, have reduced numbers, while others have increased capacity.

If this were based on some form of evidence and expert input from the profession it could be justified, but it is all too often based on economics, not need. Given that it takes at least three years to train a nurse, any decision today on capacity won’t be realised at least until at least 2024.

The current government has predictably joined their predecessors in plucking from thin air a target for the recruitment of new nurses. Two years ago, Boris Johnson pledged to create 50,000 new nurses by 2024, although it quickly became apparent that this included retaining 19,000 nurses who were already trained. Latest estimates suggest we need 40,000 more nurses just to meet current demand.

This provides another glimpse into the problem with the surge in applicants for training. Training consists of an equal split between theory and practice. So even if you can increase university capacity to provide theory, it will be all but impossible to do this for the practice elements of training. Students need to be mentored by experienced nurses, a group that is ageing, many of whom are due to retire.

Unlike other degrees, nurse training is tough, physically and psychologically. Student nurses train for three years at their own expense; those without rich parents will have to do part-time work just to survive. That’s on top of doing shift work, which is not only demanding but includes a variety of working patterns that makes finding an understanding and flexible part-time employer challenging.

For those mature students that have families of their own, which brings critical life experience, it’s particularly tough. Little wonder we’ve seen these applicants decline, despite the added value they bring to the role.

If you want a true insight into how much this government values nursing, look at how they have remunerated these “heroes”. Pay has effectively been frozen resulting in a real-terms pay cut in recent years. They do this knowing that nursing and the unions that represent them are the least militant and assertive of any work group. They literally get away with clapping their support for the profession at the same time as denying even the most miserly of pay increases – yet another reason for the exodus of experienced nurses that these new applicants will need to guide them into the profession.

Unfortunately, it’s not just the government who demonstrate naked hypocrisy when it comes to valuing nursing. We are all guilty. While repeated surveys show public support for pay increases for nurses, few of us would be willing to accept the tax rise needed to achieve this. It’s time we all put our money where our mouth is.