NHS cuts mean thousands of new nurses without jobs

Newly qualified nurses have been left struggling to find entry-level jobs, as budget cuts have forced the NHS to cut vacancies by a quarter, The Independent has learnt.

- REBECCA THOMAS

NHS leaders said the financial squeeze on the sector meant employers have cut jobs across the board, including frontline staff. New nurses described being forced to take healthcare assistant roles as they compete for a handful of positions.

Labour described the situation as “absurd” and pledged to address the problem. Dr Nichola Ashby, deputy chief nurse for the Royal College of Nursing, called on NHS England and healthcare employers to take urgent action to ensure this year’s graduates get the jobs they are trained to do.

Despite the NHS facing widespread staffing issues, and while other roles are available, student nurses are struggling to find jobs, according to the Council of Deans of Health, which represents UK universities teaching nurses and midwives.

Two student nurses due to qualify this year told The Independent that when they search for roles specifying “newly qualified” on the NHS’s internal website, fewer than ten positions are shown. One second-year nurse, Heather McWhey, said only two out of her class of 30 have found jobs in the last year, and the majority will now need to work as healthcare assistants until they can find roles.

Ms McWhey said she has been looking for a job since September but has had no luck. She fears she will not have any place to work when she graduates in two months. She said: “My cohort [of students] has been discussing what we’re going to do. Some of us are going to defer our [qualification] – something we never thought we’d do – and go and work as a healthcare assistant in the hospitals until we can get a vacancy. Who knows when that will be.”