Government must abolish tuition fees for all health trainees, says UNISON

Commenting today (Monday) on the Conservative Party’s general election pledges on nurse recruitment, a nursing student grant and hospital parking, UNISON head of health Sara Gorton said:
“The Tories’ disastrous decision to axe the NHS bursary has made it impossible for many potential nurses to train. Applications have fallen off a cliff, recruitment has been undermined, and safety on wards threatened since its abolition.
“The bare minimum any government should do is improve financial support for nurses. Every healthcare student should be offered grants, and tuition fees scrapped.
“Conservative plans to recruit 50,000 nurses are a sham. The truth is this target includes thousands who are already NHS employees.
“The pledge on hospital parking charges has limited impact. Pensioners, parents with children in intensive care or staff working days are among many who won’t benefit.”
Notes to editors:
– UNISON has campaigned against the government’s scrapping of the NHS bursary in 2016.
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union, with more than 1.3 million members providing public services – in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in both the public and private sectors.
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Sophie Goodchild T:0207 121 5555 M: 07767 325595 E: [e-mail]
Liz Chinchen T: 0207 121 5463 M: 07778 158175 E: [e-mail]
The article Government must abolish tuition fees for all health trainees, ...

Source: UNISON Health care news - November 25, 2019 Category: UK Health Authors: Charlotte Jeffs Tags: News Press release bursary hospital parking tuition fees Source Type: news