'˜Trainee nurses should not need to have degrees', says Yorkshire MEP

With around 24,000 unfilled nursing vacancies, a 20 per cent drop in people applying for graduate courses and record numbers of EU nurses quitting the NHS in the wake of the Brexit vote, Mike Hookem has said the Government should end the need for registered nurses to take degrees and be able to start the job with fewer qualifications.

But the idea has been strongly criticised by the Royal College of Nursing, who say the country needs “more well educated, highly skilled and experienced nurses - not less”.

Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg to The Yorkshire Post, Mr Hookem said he believes registered nurses should not need to take degree courses and should instead receive training on the job.

“Why do you have to go to university to be a nurse? They should be trained up as they used to be. They could come in at a basic level like they used to be.”

Since 2013, all registered nurses have needed to be educated to degree level to help them meet the increasingly complex needs of patients more safely.

It comes after it was revealed this month that the number of EU nationals registering as nurses in England has dropped by more than 90 per cent since the Brexit referendum in June.

Only 96 nurses joined the NHS from other parts of Europe in December – a fall from 1,304 the month after the referendum.

A separate series of Freedom of Information requests by the Liberal Democrats showed 2,700 EU nurses left the NHS last year, 68 per cent more than in 2014.

Nationally, the number of trainees applying to be nurses has fallen by 23 per cent after the Government axed a bursary scheme.

Mr Hookem said he was not concerned about the wider issue of replacing EU migrants currently working in the UK.

“We have got families sitting at home on benefits, shouldn’t they be encouraged to go for a job? They are giving jobs through agencies that only employ foreign workers. We have to replace that, we have to get our own people working.”

Karl Norwood, operations manager for the Royal College of Nursing in the Yorkshire and Humber region, said Mr Hookem’s opinion on nursing qualification changes was misguided.

“The NHS is facing a significant nursing shortage at a time when demand continues to rise. There are already some 24,000 vacant nursing posts in the country and we can only expect the situation to worsen,” he said.

“What we really need is more well educated, highly skilled and experienced nurses - not less. Nursing roles are demanding and involve increasingly advanced levels of practice and clinical knowledge.

“Since the Government announced the withdrawal of student funding for would-be nurses there has been a 20 per 
cent drop in applications for graduate nursing courses, with some universities reporting the decrease at around half the usual numbers.

“Whilst the new nurse apprenticeship will provide a new opportunity for staff already working in the NHS to develop their career, we must be careful to learn from the lessons of the past and not create a two-tier system.

“The RCN and nursing community has fought long and hard to ensure a highly skilled and expert workforce. This can only be achieved if the right level of university education, supervised clinical experience in a learning environment with substantial mentoring and supervision are available.

“We also know that the number of EU nationals registering as nurses in England has dropped, and a record number are quitting the NHS.”