That is the stark headline from an RCN Scotland survey. The cost-of-living crisis, lack of opportunities to supplement their income and long delays in being reimbursed for expenses incurred to go on clinical placements are creating a financial black hole.
RCN Scotland is calling for Scottish government to boost the financial package for nursing students and establish a regular review of the level of support to make sure it rises in line with the cost of living.
The headline results from the survey include:
- 99% of respondents said their finances cause them some level of concern
- 74% said this was having a high or very high impact on their mental health, and 48% on their physical health
- 58% said this was having a high or very high impact on their academic performance
- 90% of respondents are working 11 or more hours a week to supplement their income on top of studies and clinical placements
Lou Hyett-Collins, a student at the University of the Highlands and Islands and one of Scotland’s members on the RCN Student Committee, said:
“The nursing student voices that come through loud and clear in this report are so important to hear. So many of us are struggling given the financial difficulties we all face. Behind every statistic are hundreds of individual nursing students trying to persevere with so many odds stacked against them. It is heart-rending, to be honest. The level of hardship being experienced, if it continues without significant action from the Scottish government, is a threat to the current and future nursing workforce.”
Chloe Jackson, a nursing student at Robert Gordon’s University in Aberdeen and Scotland’s other member on the RCN’s Student Committee, said:
“Nursing is not like other degrees. There are many nursing students who must work to supplement their income. Working long hours on top of completing clinical placements and studying can lead to burn out before students even start their nursing career. Many nursing students are older and have existing financial commitments, children or other dependants, and many are responsible for providing more than half or all of their household’s financial income while studying. We need more financial support to prevent so many falling into hardship and burn out.”
Colin Poolman, RCN Scotland Director, said:
“The evidence from this survey strongly suggests that there is a danger of strangling nursing careers and aspirations before they’ve properly begun.
“We’re calling on the Scottish government to improve financial support to show that nursing is truly a valued profession. With persistently high levels of registered nurse vacancies, we can’t allow more nursing students to drop out. We’ve also seen applications to nursing courses drop alarmingly so that not all places on university courses are being filled. The Scottish government has capping nursing student numbers for the next three years, but what we really need to see are efforts to make nursing an attractive profession to pursue once again.
“The Ministerial Nursing and Midwifery Taskforce is a timely opportunity to ensure that current and future nursing students get the money they need to prioritise their education, cope with the rising cost of living and finish their studies successfully without falling into financial hardship.”
Read the full report here.
