Fears for NHS as apprenticeships fail to plug gaps left by Brexit brain drain
I’ve trailed some original research which shows that the most rural areas have almost 50% fewer NHS staff than the England average. The calculation includes cities like Lincoln, Plymouth, Norwich and Carlisle, which serve large rural hinterlands. This story is further cause for pessimism. It tells us:
The total number of people starting NHS apprenticeships has fallen by more than a third in the past three years, raising new concerns about shortages of key staff such as nurses after Brexit.
Figures released by the Department for Education show a 36% drop in the number of people taking up NHS apprenticeships between 2015/16 and 2017/18, with take-up of such positions falling way short of government predictions.
Despite ministerial pledges to plug recruitment gaps with the help of 1,000 apprentice nurses a year, the official data also shows that in January 2018 just 20 apprentices started the registered nurse degree apprenticeship while just 10 people signed up for new “nursing associate” training in the same period.