• News
  • Clinical
  • Professional
  • Students
  • Opinion
  • COVID-19
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
Home News Health Politics

Johnson accused of misleading voters over a pledge to recruit 50,000 new nurses

The bulk of the 50,000 would come from better ‘retention’ of existing staff.

Share  
Tweet  
by Matt Bodell
24/11/2019
Boris Johnson

Shutterstock

The party pledged to recruit thousands of more nurses and bring back student bursaries.

Boris Johnson has again been accused of misleaders voters as a pledge to recruit 50,000 new nurses has been branded “fake”.

Speaking at a launch event in Telford earlier this evening, Mr Johnson unveiled the Conservative Party Election Manifesto which started with the promise of recruiting 50,000 new nurses and reintroducing the NHS student bursary.

The new financial support measures for students would produce an extra 14,000 nurses, while 12,500 more will be recruited from overseas and 5,000 from nursing apprenticeships, party aides revealed.

The bulk of the 50,000 will instead come from better ‘retention’ of existing staff.

‘Frankly deceitful’.

Since cutting the NHS student bursary applications to study nursing in England are down by 29%, leaving around 43,000 full-time nursing posts unfilled. 

Within minutes of the announcement, Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, told HuffPost: “First of all we had Johnson’s fake 40 new hospitals. Now we have his fake 50,000 extra nurses. The Conservatives’ claim on nurses is frankly deceitful.

“Matt Hancock and Tory ministers forced through the abolition of the bursary partly causing the nursing crisis afflicting our NHS today.

“The new damaging Tory nurses’ tax on European nurses will make it impossible to deliver the nurses our NHS needs.”

‘Not bringing back the bursary’.

Responding to the launch of the parties manifesto, Dame Donna Kinnair, General Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “Today’s commitment to recruit and retain 50,000 more nursing staff above and beyond the existing students completing degrees is the right level of aspiration.

“However, we need more detail of how and from where these future professionals are going to be found.”

Forcing would-be nurses to pay tuition fees has demonstrably failed in the last two years. With this announcement, Boris Johnson has not brought back the bursary – he is pledging to return one element of the package and keep the costly tuition fees in place.”

“The number of future nurses being talked about here represent great ambition, but we will need to see some detail about how it can be achieved, and what this means for total investment, including to increase capacity for clinical learning placements in services.”

ADVERTISEMENT

POPULAR

Cooling vests could alleviate heat strain caused by PPE

10/01/2021

HEE provides ‘clarity’ to student nurses over paid clinical placements

20/01/2021

Scotland confirms it has no plans to deploy student nurses on paid clinical placements

17/01/2021

RCN tells the PM to be ‘more accurate’ when discussing nurses’ pay

06/01/2021

Don’t clap for us – we are not ‘heroes’ – we just need fair pay, safe staffing and PPE, say nurses

08/01/2021
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT


the Handover

Nursing news and clinical updates direct to your inbox.



Your data is held in accordence with our Privacy Policy.

Related Posts

Workforce

Medical students demand an end to ‘compulsory’ placements covering ‘menial’ nursing duties

21/01/2021
Health Politics

PPE provided to healthcare workers not ‘adequate to keep them safe’, says Labour

21/01/2021
Clinical

NEWS2 could be improved by including age, oxygen saturation and blood results, finds study

21/01/2021
Education

HEE provides ‘clarity’ to student nurses over paid clinical placements

20/01/2021
Clinical

No plausible way the COVID-19 vaccine could impact women’s fertility, say RCOG and RCM

20/01/2021
Health Politics

Unions plead with the PM to grant NHS staff an early and meaningful pay rise

19/01/2021
Education

Scotland confirms it has no plans to deploy student nurses on paid clinical placements

17/01/2021
Clinical

Patient safety at risk as hospitals further dilute staffing levels, warns RCN

15/01/2021
NursingNotes

NursingNotes has been created for nurses by nurses.

Follow Us

Top Categories

  • Clinical
  • Education
  • Health Politics
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Professional
  • Research
  • Resources
  • Sponsored
  • Workforce

Recent Posts

  • Medical students demand an end to ‘compulsory’ placements covering ‘menial’ nursing duties
  • PPE provided to healthcare workers not ‘adequate to keep them safe’, says Labour
  • NEWS2 could be improved by including age, oxygen saturation and blood results, finds study
  • HEE provides ‘clarity’ to student nurses over paid clinical placements
  • Agenda for Change NHS Pay Bands
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • About us
  • Contact us

© 2019 NursingNotes.co.uk

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Clinical
  • Professional
  • Students
  • Opinion
  • COVID-19

© 2019 NursingNotes.co.uk

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.