Nurse training targets scaled back in Wales

Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW), the strategic workforce body for NHS Wales, has been forced to revise its recommendations for how many student nurse places should be commissioned for 2024-25.

“Financial support is crucial in attracting and retaining nursing students”

Sandy Harding

The final recommendation approved by the Welsh Government is now 13% lower than what was originally set for 2024-25 and 11% lower than 2023-24.

Each year HEIW produces an Education and Training Plan to the Welsh Government setting out the workforce requirements of NHS Wales employers.

Among the factors HEIW takes into account when producing its plan is evidence from health boards and trusts on their staffing needs, consideration of the current workforce challenges and trends, as well as actual fill rates of commissioned education places in the previous year.

HEIW’s initial recommendation to the Welsh Government, submitted in July 2023, was for 2,747 nursing student places to be commissioned for 2024-25.

However, due to the financial difficulties facing the country, the government asked for revisions to the numbers.

The final Education and Training Plan 2024-25, signed off by the government, has now been published by HEIW and has reduced the nurse training target to 2,400.

The change means the recommendation for 2024-25 is now lower than that for the previous year, which was set at 2,701.

However, nursing universities struggled to fill these places last year, the new HEIW report reveals.

Out of the 2,701 commissioned places in 2023-24, only around 2,260 were filled.

Therefore, HEIW noted that the commission of 2,400 places would still “enable growth” in nursing numbers if they were filled.

Alternatively, for midwifery, HEIW has maintained its recommendation of 224 education places for 2024-25 – an increase of 34 places based on 2023-24 fill rates and 18% higher than the recommendation for last year.

Extract from the HEIW Education and Training Plan 2024-25

Reacting to the new report, Sandy Harding, associate director (professional practice) for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in Wales, said better financial support for student nurses was needed to help fill education places.

She also appealed for RCN Wales to be involved in the creation of the Education and Training Plan at an earlier stage to ensure nursing needs were properly accounted for.

“Our expertise and experience could further enhance the plan’s effectiveness in addressing the specific needs and challenges faced by nurses in Wales,” she said.

“In addition to our involvement in the planning stages, we urge HEIW to ensure that the ongoing review of the bursary system is conducted thoroughly and that more financial provision is provided to nursing students.

“Financial support is crucial in attracting and retaining nursing students, particularly given the financial challenges many face during their education.

“Adequate bursaries and financial aid can alleviate these burdens, making nursing education more accessible and ensuring a steady pipeline of future nurses.”

“Despite significant real term cuts to our budget, we have maintained our spending on healthcare professional training”

Welsh Government spokesperson

The publication of the HEIW plan comes after the Welsh Government confirmed, in February, that funding for healthcare professional education and training would be maintained at around £283m in 2024-25 – the same as 2023-24 levels.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Whilst the number of commissioned places has reduced from the plan submitted in July, the number of places being commissioned exceeds the number of places filled in previous years.

“Despite significant real term cuts to our budget, we have maintained our spending on healthcare professional training.”

Meanwhile, an HEIW spokesperson said the fill rate achieved in 2023-24 was the “highest number of student nurses ever recruited in Wales”, despite being lower than target.

They confirmed that its original report for 2024-25 was submitted to the Welsh Government in July 2023 but that ministers then asked for “different options”.

“During the latter part of 2023, in light of the financial constraints, Welsh Government asked HEIW to consider a number of different options and to maintain the same funding level for 2024 which was set for the education and training plan in 2023,” said the HEIW spokesperson.

“HEIW carried out extensive additional work to review, research and revise the plan across all professions.

“This resulted in 2,400 pre-registration places for 2024-25 which is higher than the 2023-24 fill rate and reflective of the places that HEIW expect education providers to fill.”