PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Nurses: Training (16 July 2020)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the King's Fund report, Closing the gap: Key areas for action on the health and care workforce, published in March 2020, what recent assessment he has made of the level of attrition during nursing training.

Asked by:
Karin Smyth (Labour)

Health Education England (HEE) is working with higher education institutions to understand and mitigate against attrition building on the Reducing Pre-registration Attrition and Improving Retention (RePAIR) research published in 2018. This is available at the following link:

https://healtheducationengland.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/Comms/Digital/EeNMV6yMRllLgk3zKaV8nlMBi78dT-8MUwvJXJ8uAMyfCg?e=b1VIyY

The RePAIR programme identified financial support as the most significant concern amongst students who were considering leaving their course in all years of study. In December 2019, the Government announced that from September 2020, all eligible new and continuing nursing and midwifery and Allied Health Profession students on pre-registration courses at English universities will receive additional funding of at least £5,000 a year. There will be up to a further £3,000 to support eligible students with childcare costs, for students studying specialist subjects or in an area struggling to recruit.

Answered by:
Helen Whately (Conservative)
4 August 2020