DIGITAL NEWS - STUDENT NURSE CURRENT SITUATION (IDEA RESEARCH)

There are 2 situations that I found out are currently effecting Student Nurses. One being the Student Finance for Student Nurses and the next being the contracts for Junior nurses and Doctors (After graduating so still relevant to student nurses).

Student Nurse's NHS Bursaries
In 2016, it was reported, by the BBC, that the Bursary which was available for Student Nurses, was to be cancelled and replaced with a loan in 2017. Up until then, Student Nurses who were accepted onto the nursing courses would be given a bursary between £1,000-£4,000 and this wouldn't have to be paid back. This money was supplied by the NHS in order to help the Student Nurses"We need more home-grown nurses in the NHS because they do an amazing job caring for patients, but currently two-thirds of people who apply to become a nurse aren't accepted for training" (https://goo.gl/Gz4k9o) to the BBC.


This was the governments reasoning for scrapping the bursaries which can be seen as a fair point. However, the article continues to explains the issues this then causes for the Student Nurses as they don't get as much free time as regular students. This was then replaced with a student loan, a spokes person from the Department of Health told the BBC "We need more home-grown nurses in the NHS because they do an amazing job caring for patients, but currently two thirds of people who apply to become a nurse aren't accepted for training" (https://goo.gl/Gz4k9o) So it seems that the Department or Health is intending to bring many more nurses into the NHS by accepting more students which is why the Bursary was canceled.

However, the main concern from this change was the amount of debt the nurses would then get into and also the situation for the nurses during their University years. As a student nurse, you will not only attend University, you will also have to do placement on a ward, this is unpaid work. Meaning, they don't have as much free time as regular students. Talking from experience, I had to get a weekend job when I came to University, as my Student Loan mostly covers my rent and what was remaining wasn't enough to live on. This is a huge issue with students and many will get part time jobs but this can't always be done for Student Nurses due to their placements. This was also voiced as a concern by the Royal College of Nursing through The Guardian in an article. They said "The changes were unfair and risky" (https://goo.gl/CRmZX3). The article also quotes the Royal College of Midwives saying "The RCM is extremely disappointed that the government did not seek advice or consult with us prior to making this decision" (https://goo.gl/CRmZX3) So this decision went ahead by the Government without discussing the possible issues with Universities.

I find this story has potential, Student Nurses could be seriously be effected by these changes and this would appeal to our audience. It could be helpful for Student nurses and students in secondary schools who are considering nursing as a course. Although it doesn't benefit ALL students, I feel if we got with a specific type of student for the live story and then a more broad ranch of students for the rest of the programme it'll make the channel much more original.

Junior Doctors & Nurses Contracts

Another issue which can have a serious effect on Student Nurses is the situation that came about in 2016 with the new Junior Doctor contracts.
In 2016 it was announced by the Health Minister, that the pay situation for Junior nurses and doctors was to become worse. The contracts which would be given for the junior medical staff awarded a below-inflation increase of just 1%. Sky news wrote a article and described it as "a real term cut that unions say compounds years of underpayment" (https://goo.gl/ifHHR8) which Junior medical staff were against as it resulted in them working more hours due to over time for less amount of payment. This caused so many strikes accross the UK and many staff refusing to work and caused a large amount of issues for the NHS including a fall in staff A&E which caused great issues for patients.
So why does this story and information effect student nurses? Simple, once a Student Nurse has graduated, they become a junior doctor or nurse and after going through 3 years of debt and over work, it seems as though they have to endure even more issues financially. As well, it's assumed that it takes a minimum of 4 years for a junior doctor to qualify as a GP and it takes 8 years to become qualified as a hospital consultant. This is a large amount of time to have with these terrible contracts. So I can already imagine this would effect a great number of students wanting to study nursing as it would mean a struggle while working for many years after education.