An analysis conducted by the Nuffield Trust has unveiled significant instances of student nurses either discontinuing their studies or leaving the profession shortly after completing their qualifications.
In fact, a worrying 13% of student nurses are quitting their training, while nearly one in five practising nurses are leaving the industry in their first two years of practice.
The health think tank have suggested the dimissal of nursing student loans could massively improve retention rates across the NHS.
Nurses would have to complete ten years of service before having their student loans written off.
The proposal suggests that the student loan forgiveness program could adopt a tiered approach, where three years of service would result in a 30% reduction, seven years in a 70% reduction, and so on.
The prospective plan would also apply to nurses, midwives and allied health professionals such as occupational therapists.
Nuffield Trust senior fellow, Dr Billy Palmer said: “A key symptom of the struggles of our domestic pipeline is our heavy reliance on overseas recruitment.
“Our domestic pipeline is only producing about half of nurses, midwives and nursing associates joining the register. It is actually only accounting for about two in five doctors joining the UK register.
“So clearly we’ve got shortcomings in our ability to have that sustainable UK supply.”
He added that the NHS’s Long-Term Workforce Plan“doesn’t represent a quick fix on the whole” so the authors are now exploring how to get a “more immediate return”.
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