This is an interesting story of the nursing bursary degree which up until 2017 was worth up to around £16.000 each year for UK students. This included a tuition fee of £9000, a maintenance grant of £1000 and a disposition for financial support in form of a maintenance grant between £2000 and £3000 depending on whether you live at home or away from home. But all that was about to change when the chancellor George Osborne in 2015 reviewed the student bursary leading to the tuition fees becoming payable, in brief replacing the previous comprehensible bursary package with loans.

This led to Bursaries being removed in 2016 in England only. Despite warnings from key health associations such as the Royal College of Nursing or Health experts who saw it as a shortcoming for tackling the ongoing shortages of nurses, the plan was implemented with obvious consequences to our health system.

A U-turn strategy has now been adopted by the new Boris Johnson government, reintroducing from the next academic year September 2020, a maintenance grant of £5000 and an additional £3000 for nursing areas with severe shortages such as learning disability and mental health.

The analytical perspective of this move can be seen as an attempt by Boris Johnson to fulfil the promise of the general election campaign or an insufficient response from the many request to go back to the old system. The reality of nursing students is still concerning given the very demanding nursing curriculum therefore leaving them with very little time to work along side their studies compare to other fields. Today nursing students after training will be left with a debt of £42000 compare to £51000 just after 2017. It is evident more needs to be done to encourage prospective students to embark in a nursing career which can be fulfilling but also very demanding and challenging .