Borrowing against the future: the response to the public consultation on the NHS bursary

Abstract

This paper discusses the UK Government's public consultation into the NHS bursary and the response from the Nursing and Midwifery Council. A public consultation stipulated that the current arrangements for funding, by the State, were not to be considered for discussion. Instead, the consultation only appraised views that would lead to the successful introduction of student finance loans for NHS professional education. Testimonies from nurses, midwives and nursing students expressed concern that the new funding arrangements were unaffordable, dis-incentivising and biased towards the marketisation of student loans in the UK, yet the changes went ahead. The changes to NHS bursary funding resulted from the UK Government's desire for growth in student numbers (and ostensibly not growth in financial figures), and the fact that nursing (and other healthcare) students will become more fiscally indebted, despite society's moral obligation to them.