nursing - students fight poverty
WORKERS, OCT 2005 ISSUE
The campaign to fight poverty among student nurses continues to gather pace. A recent Unison survey demonstrates that in under two years the number of student nurses leaving their training with debts of over £10,000 has risen from 6% to 14%. Around 55% of graduating nurses have debts ranging from £1,000 to £9,999. Unison is calling for the re-instatement of employment and wage protection previously afforded to student nurses before the introduction of the bursary system.
Following the success in January of Unison and other nursing and midwifery unions at the Employment Appeal Tribunal, over the Department of Health's discriminatory action against student nurses who became pregnant during their training, new Department of Health advice removing the discriminatory guidelines has been issued. This is a consolidation of many years of campaigning by health unions for maternity rights for student nurses.