WIREDGOV

The number of nurses has gone up as the government works to increase nursing numbers in the NHS by 50,000 in the next 5 years.

Since 2010, there have been increases of more than:

• 20,000 more doctors
• 18,500 more nurses, midwives and health visitors
• 4,900 more paramedics

The government has said there will be 50,000 more nurses and 6,000 more doctors in general practice by 2025.

This will be supported by £33.9 billion of funding a year for the NHS by 2024 to 2025, which is being made law.

Student nurses, midwives and many allied health professionals such as paramedics on courses from September, will get support of at least £5,000 a year to help with their living costs. They will not need to pay this back.

The latest UCAS statistics show the number of nursing applicants to English universities has risen for the second year running. There have been 35,960 applicants to nursing and midwifery courses at English universities in 2020 – a 6% rise compared to 2019.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday said:   

As Health Secretary, I’m determined to deliver on our commitment to have 50,000 more nurses in the NHS.

So I’m delighted that figures out today show that alongside a reduction in vacancies and an increase in the number of GPs, we’ve got record numbers of nurses working in our NHS – up by over 8,000 on the same time last year.

This government is determined to make good on its commitments and deliver on the people’s priorities – and today’s figures show that we are doing just that.