References

Student nurse applications rising but still down 29% since bursary axe. 2019. https://tinyurl.com/y63qq9kb (accessed 27 September 2019)

Health Education England. The talent for care. A national strategic framework to develop the healthcare support workforce. 2014a. https://tinyurl.com/y42g94bn (accessed 27 September 2019)

Health Education England. Widening Workforce Participation it matters! Our strategy and initial action plan. 2014b. https://tinyurl.com/yxrnzrx6 (accessed 27 September 2019)

The Health Foundation. What makes the NHS an anchor organisation? Infographic. 2019. https://tinyurl.com/yxmdyvcm (accessed 27 September 2019)

NHS Improvement. Interim NHS people plan. 2019. https://tinyurl.com/yyqa2sly (accessed 27 September 2019)

Building healthier communities: the role of the NHS as an anchor institution. 2019. https://tinyurl.com/y65j2peu (accessed 27 September 2019)

A strategy to boost nurse recruitment

10 October 2019
Volume 28 · Issue 18

Abstract

Sam Foster, Chief Nurse, Oxford University Hospitals, discusses recruitment issues and how the concept of NHS organisations as ‘anchor institutions’ that contribute to the wellbeing of the local community may help

At a recent partnership meeting with my colleagues from our local higher education institute we reviewed the likely numbers of prospective preregistration nurses who have been offered a place to begin their programmes. This meeting revealed that we are barely able to meet our planned numbers.

Ford (2019) reported that, although applications to study nursing in England have increased by 4% from last year, they are still down by more than 15 000 since the removal of the bursary. Potential mature students are the most affected, with applications from those aged 25 and over seeing a reduction of 71% since 2016 (Ford, 2019).

With the national nursing vacancy position reported to being in excess of 40 000, alongside all of the multiple interventions that we are working on locally to transform roles, recruit and retain nurses, it is evident that we need to further strengthen our plans to grow our future supply of registered nurses.

Register now to continue reading

Thank you for visiting British Journal of Nursing and reading some of our peer-reviewed resources for nurses. To read more, please register today. You’ll enjoy the following great benefits:

What's included

  • Limited access to clinical or professional articles

  • Unlimited access to the latest news, blogs and video content