8,370

of 20,000 signatures

Open letter:

Dear Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care,

I face relentless hours, department cuts and exhaustion everyday at my hospital. There's a gap of 42,000 nursing jobs in England that are unfilled - and burnout is forcing thousands more of us out of our jobs.

Hospitals like mine are on their knees. And it's no surprise, since nursing bursaries were ended in 2015, applications to be a nurse have dropped by a third. Now if you want to be a nurse, you have to face up to £50,000 in student debt.

Bringing back nursing bursaries will bring thousands more people back to nursing. It would help the NHS survive and keep our patients safer.

It could also help to save money. The Open University said that replacing expensive agency staff with full time nurses could save £560m a year.

The NHS is the most important thing for thousands of families in this country. We're trying to look after your children, your elderly and all your other loved ones. But it's almost impossible to do it properly, and it's no longer safe. We need more nurses and to do it right, nursing bursaries must come back.

Please bring back nursing bursaries now.

Signed,

NHS staff and concerned people of the public.


Here's what other NHS staff are saying about this open letter

"Nursing is one of the most emotionally and physically difficult jobs and is under valued and under paid. The career trajectory is minimal and very few get beyond a band 5 or 6 which means their pay and income will never warrant the cost of training. we need more people who care, not less - we need more people to be trained well, not less." - A nurse in Manchester


"We are spending a huge chunk of our budget on agency nurses to cover shortfalls on almost every shift. We have colleagues going off sick with stress due to increased workloads which then makes it even tougher for everyone else. I am working way over my allotted hours and not being paid for it. I feel very stressed." - A nurse in Suffolk


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