Student nurse applications have dropped dramatically in Cumbria at a time when local hospitals are struggling to recruit, a union has warned.

Unison has blamed the Government's decision to scrap nursing bursaries, meaning they will no longer get help with living costs.

Figures show a 30 per cent drop in applications, with 340 fewer than last year, for nursing courses at the University of Cumbria.

This is even higher than the 23 per cent average drop in applications nationally since the decision to abolish bursaries.

The abolition of bursaries is having a triple impact on Cumbria - fewer opportunities for people to train in NHS professions, fears of more job losses at the university, and even worse recruitment problems for our hospitals.

David Atkinson, Unison regional organiser, warned that it will mean that there will be even less nursing recruits coming through in future - yet even now local health trusts cannot fill key posts.

Across north and west Cumbria it has been widely reported that there is a major shortage of nurses and doctors at the present time - one of the main issues flagged up in the Success Regime consultation.

Staffing difficulties have already led to temporary bed closures at community hospitals, with nursing shortages also one of the main reasons for the decision to permanently remove medical beds from Maryport, Wigton and Alston hospitals.

North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust has also continually struggled to find enough nurses, at one point looking to bring in staff from abroad in order to plug gaps.

The University of Cumbria has confirmed the drop in applications, but stresses it was already oversubscribed so can still fill all of the existing vacancies on its nursing courses.

But Mr Atkinson is worried about the long term impact, at a time when recruitment is one of the main challenges facing the local NHS.

He added that proposed redundancies at the university - with 100 jobs at risk due to falling student numbers - could potentially further fuel the nursing crisis facing the county.

Mr Atkinson said: The abolition of bursaries is having a triple impact on Cumbria - fewer opportunities for people to train in NHS professions, fears of more job losses at the university, and even worse recruitment problems for our hospitals.

Bursaries provided a route for people to get the skills they need to work in the NHS. Many are now put off by having to take on massive debts while training.

Cumbria needs a skilled and qualified workforce to provide high-quality health services, and we need opportunities for people to train and re-train. It is already becoming evident that the abolition of the bursary is doing harm to our county."

Mr Atkinson went on to demand that Carlisle MP John Stevenson to "put his constituents before his party and join the call for the bursary to be reintroduced".

The University of Cumbria's chief operating officer, David Chesser, confirmed the drop in applications.

As UCAS have reported, there has been a national decline in nursing applications across universities in the UK for 2017/18 entry. As such, the University of Cumbria has also seen a decline in applications this year to our nursing and midwifery courses. This decline can be attributed to the requirement for student nurses to pay tuition fees following the removal of the NHS bursary," he said.

We have responded to the removal of the bursary by offering additional support with placement travel costs, and by providing free uniforms to students starting these courses in 2017."

He stressed that their courses for the coming year are still full.

We are limited in the number of places we can offer on nursing and midwifery courses, so while we have seen a significant reduction in the number of applicants, we still have more applications than places, but importantly there is selection process and eligibility criteria, which applies for all these courses," explained Mr Chesser.

"The university is very fortunate that a high proportion of the applications received are of excellent quality, enabling us to select the highest calibre applicants for these courses."

He added that they are now looking at other options for future.

Looking to the future, next year the University of Cumbria hopes to offer nursing apprenticeships, funded by the employer, and it is anticipated that this alternative will also be a popular training route for potential nurses," he added.

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Worrying drop in student nurse applications in Cumbria - News & Star