Under government proposals, student nurses could soon start their careers at least £51,600 in debt, with an immediate demand to start paying it off. Bursaries would be replaced with loans, and nurses would be required to pay £9,000-a-year tuition fees for the first time.

Many are concerned that the prospect of large debts combined with a low starting salary will deter potential nurses from entering training, particularly those from lower income backgrounds or without family support.

Orla Hillary, student nurse and Vice President Health & Education and Science & Technology at MDXSU, shares her thoughts.

I started my adult nursing degree at Middlesex in September 2012, coming over from Ireland to study nursing here in London. I was in the yellow stream, first studying theory in university, before I then went out on my first placement in a hospital. As an international student, it was amazing to come over and have an NHS funded course. My sister who studied medicine before me had to pay £9000 every year for five years, so my funded course was an absolutely amazing thing for my parents and I.

However, as an Irish student and not a home student, I wasn’t entitled to the bursary that all my friends and classmates were getting. All my money for rent, travel, food, books, bills - everything came from my parents. They have had to support me from day one of me moving over here. It was so hard trying to be a nursing student without any money to help me, so I can completely understand how frightened students are at the prospect of losing the bursary.

There were times where I had to go straight from part-time work to lectures, and then straight back to work again to help get some money in to take some of the pressure off my parents. But even that wasn’t enough. Having a life as a nursing student is hard enough as it is within the strain of extra work - it’s such a demanding course and you really have to work your socks off for all three years if you want to get by.

I think that if the bursary goes we’ll have a massive decrease in the number of nurses in the UK, not only because they are so frustrated at the fact that nurses are not supported, but the fact that they genuinely cannot afford to study and train. In London on average a travel card for an oyster is up to £50 a week. I struggled to get that, and would have to choose travel over lunch some days. I can see how the enthusiasm of nursing students would plummet, and the drive and motivation to work harder and go the extra mile would disappear.

Being a nurse is an amazing career to choose, and I think if you are willing to give up your time to look after others that's an amazing attribute to have. If you take away one of the key resources we need to get through a nursing degree - money - then how do you expect us to continue wanting to go into this profession?

Nurses work nights. Nurses work 13 hour shifts or longer because they NEVER finish on time. They rarely receive a break because they’re so busy, they suffer from exhaustion and dehydration, and they deal with death and the dying every single day. 

Money is not everything, but I think that if you do take away the bursary then that will just be the start of cuts throughout the nursing profession.

Want to support student nurses against the planned changes to their tuition fees and bursaries? Add your name to the government petition here, or join the march on January 9th.