10 signatures reached
To: NMC and NHS
Pay Student Nurses on placement until COVID-19 no longer is a pandemic.
Student nurses should be paid at least minimum wage or a wage determined by their year of study during their hospital placement time. Other acceptable outcomes could include student nurses being refunded for their previous year of study and tuition fees to be wavered for the following years or a significant reduction in the hours set by the NMC that must be completed in order to become a registered nurse, this could be substituted with more academic work.
Why is this important?
Student nurses have to complete 2300 hours of placement to be a registered nurse and with all the disruptions due to the pandemic this has been made difficult. Students have had to leave part time jobs to catch up on hours or are forced to make up time if they have to isolate. We aren’t entitled to sick pay and therefore we can find ourselves in financial difficulties very quickly. Acquiring COVID from placement could mean not only a high volume of hours to catch up on but also time off part time work. We are exposed to the same things qualified health professionals are however we have no protection. This can’t go on and there either needs to be pay for student nurses or a reduction in the hours that must be completed to allow time for those who end up suffering with COVID time to recover or isolate or a full refund in university fees for all the contributions student nurses make to help the NHS cope in these unprecedented times.
