PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Nurses: Coronavirus (25 June 2020)

Health Education England (HEE) is working with stakeholders and partners across the system to ensure that we continue to attract prospective students onto pre-registration programmes, reduce attrition from those programmes and support newly qualified nurses into roles within trusts. HEE is working with universities to understand the impact of COVID-19 on students being able to complete their programmes, understanding what they need to do to complete their degree and putting steps in place that will enable them to graduate and take up roles within the National Health Service.

The health and education sectors are working jointly to increase applications and places; the Government announced 5,000 more healthcare places from September. From September 2020, eligible new and continuing nursing, midwifery and most allied health profession students studying pre-registration courses at English universities will benefit from a new, non-repayable, training grant of at least £5,000 per academic year in addition to the funding available already through the Learning Support Fund and Student Loans Company.