More students will have the opportunity to apply for places on nursing, midwifery or allied health professional courses in England, following unprecedented demand, the Department of Health and Social Care has announced.
On 4 May the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced new measures to protect students and universities, including an additional 5000 ring-fenced places for nursing, midwifery or allied health courses to support the NHS. Large numbers of students are applying to study healthcare courses, and the government has now agreed to extend the timetable for universities to apply for the extra places to Friday 17 July, and to cover additional bids over the initial 5000.
‘Following the fantastic news last Thursday that we have over 12,000 more nurses working in our NHS compared to last year, we have seen huge demand from universities for the additional places we’ve made available on nursing, midwifery or allied health courses,’ said Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock.
According to the Department of Health and Social Care, there has been significant demand for additional places across a range of courses including adult, mental health and learning disability nursing, midwifery, paramedicine and radiography. This extension will give universities more time and allow them to bid with the confidence that there will be clinical placement capacity.
‘This pandemic has demonstrated just how important our healthcare professionals are, and the demand for places shows that there are thousands of prospective students looking to train for rewarding careers in our NHS,’ added Mr Hancock.