Student nurses in London are planning to protest the proposed cuts to nurses’ government bursaries, on Wednesday afternoon outside the Department of Health building in Whitehall.
Related Article: Q&A: What do field specific standards for community nursing mean for me?
They argued on their facebook page, which is being used to execute the event, that to have the bursaries removed is “insulting and upsetting” and will act as a deterent for people who’d like to go to university and become nurses.
Chancellor George Osborne, in his spending review last Wednesday, announced that there would be loans for trainee nurses instead of grants and that 10,000 new training places will be created.
Related Article: £30million set aside to fund nurses in research positions
In response, the group planning the protests wrote: “The government have announced they are removing the NHS bursaries for student nurses, midwives, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, podiatrists, radiographers, dietetics, operating department practitioners and may also affect paramedics…
Come along on Wednesday to the Department of Health at 2pm and let’s show the government we will not stand to the cuts against our bursaries. Make sure you bring your voice and let’s be heard!”
Related Article: Bringing the views of student nurses into general practice: Learning disability
The group said that Unison, the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Midwives are supporting their campaign, and that they will be planning more action, and more campaigning in order to “maintain the momentum”.
