43,000 and rising. This is the number of expected NHS nursing vacancies that England will be facing in 2020.
I wasn’t alone in wondering how the NHS will survive and continue to be able to sustain a service to the population that is free at the point of use when the previous number of 40,000 vacancies in the NHS was quoted.
Now with an estimated number of over 3,000 more, the fears of safe staffing not being met, of patients not receiving the treatment and the care that they deserve, of more potential students choosing not to study nursing because all they see and hear are the negative connotations of a NHS service that cannot meet the needs of the public are increasing.
There are so many ways that we, as students, can help to alleviate this growing number.
Across the country Nursing Now England ambassadors are going into schools to speak to students. What qualifications are needed to apply for nursing at university and how people manage the financial burden of household bills and being on placement full-time are just some of the questions that are posed to the ambassadors.
Just recently, I joined Whittington Health on one of their future nurse visits to a local school. The thirty 16-17 year olds were already thinking about nursing as a career and Whittington Health had previously visited the school, building a working relationship with the teachers and students, but they still had many unanswered questions, and some of them were still unsure if nursing would be the right career for them.
The team of Nursing Now England ambassadors were all from different areas – from nurse consultant to university representatives, hospital clinical educator to me, the student nurse. This approach, of having different people to speak to, gave the students from the school the opportunity to direct their specific questions to the relevant people.
"We found that it was hugely beneficial at this stage of their school career to have university representatives at the visit"
As the student nurse representative, we found that the students from the school were more open to asking me questions about university life and how, as student nurses, we manage with juggling studying, placement and working.
"I left the school feeling like we had made a positive impression"
We found that it was hugely beneficial at this stage of their school career to have university representatives at the visit as some of them were starting to look at their UCAS applications. Also, it was helpful to know what kind of questions they would be asked at a nursing interview and how to prepare for the interview and testing process.
I left the school feeling like we had made a positive impression and felt reassured that the students were gaining more confidence in researching and asking questions about nursing as a career.
Anyone can sign up to be a Nursing Now England ambassador, sharing resources with people from all over England on positive ways to approach schools and how to carry out sessions in the schools.
If over a year, you visit one school, you are making a positive impact on potential future nurses. Get your student peers, lecturers, nurses from placement involved and go on school visits together. We can work together across England to inspire school children to become future nurses.
Published in the Nursing Times, 20 November, 2019