Andrew Turner
Main Page: Andrew Turner (Conservative - Isle of Wight)Department Debates - View all Andrew Turner's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(8 years, 9 months ago)
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Mr Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight) (Con)
It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Pritchard.
With an ageing and increasing population, there is no doubt that we need a stronger nursing workforce in the NHS. I am glad that the Government recognise that. What worries me, and so many others, is the proposed removal of the bursary scheme in England. In moving to a loan-based system, the Government will need to find ways to attract students to a career path that includes irregular and long hours and is often physically and emotionally demanding. We have yet to hear those proposals, although I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Sutton and Cheam (Paul Scully) for bringing to our attention some examples of what should be done, including having better salaries and apprenticeships rather than bursarships. The Royal College of Nursing has rightly suggested that the bursary system creates a connection between nursing students and the NHS, a potential future employer, from the start of their education. By removing that connection, we risk reducing the motivation for and attractiveness of such vital jobs in the NHS.
More rural and remote constituencies such as mine, the Isle of Wight, need to make jobs in the public sector attractive and provide motivation for qualified nurses who have student loans that need be to paid off. Most importantly, the island’s peculiarities must be taken into account, especially the fact that journeys to universities on the mainland take students two hours each way every time they travel. I hope the Minister will address that problem.