The NHS will miss hiring thousands of nurses each year as a direct result of the elimination of BTec courses in health and social care by the government, hospital chiefs have warned.
NHS employers wrote in a letter to Education Secretary James Cleverly that he had “serious concerns” about the plan, which he feared would exacerbate serious health service staffing problems.
BTecs are consolidated degrees that help young people find work as support workers in nursing, midwifery or related professions. Some of them are later trained to be a fully qualified nurse, midwife, radiographer or occupational therapist.
NHS employers are especially concerned that the abolition of BTECs in 2024 and 2025, as part of a move to new T-level qualifications in post-16 education reform, will hamper efforts from the NHS in England to recruit enough nurses to help fill the nearly 40,000 vacancies it has for them.
Danny Mortimer, the organization’s executive director, told Cleverly in his letter that about one-fifth of those studying an nursing degree had taken a BTec in social and health care. In 2017, for example, 7,120 of those taking a nursing course had already obtained this qualification, 20% of the total. That was more than the 5,947 who had embarked on a degree after doing a baccalaureate. “This demonstrates that the course provides an effective pathway to nursing training for a significant number of people,” he said.
In separate statements, Mortimer said: “Abolishing these important BTec courses in health and social care is an incredibly short-sighted decision by the government.
“At a time when the NHS already has an extremely scarce staff and has 105,000 vacancies, depriving the health service of a portfolio of new nursing recruits, midwives and other health recruits is reckless and inadvisable and could also leave the l “NHS as our social care partners, with thousands more vacancies in the coming years.”
More than 100 NHS organizations across England believe ministers “should not end the provision of this course, which nurtures and supports those with an interest in health and social care at this time”. says the letter.
Currently, some 30,000 people are doing a BTec in health and social care, of which just under half are studying full time.
The Royal College of Nursing urged Cleverly to do an “urgent rethink” of the plan. Its implementation was delayed after deputies and colleagues from different parties, as well as university leaders, criticized it.
Dr Nichola Ashby, RCN’s deputy director of nursing education, research and ethics, said: “This is another example of the government making it harder, not easier, to get into nursing in England. there is a workforce crisis and all aspiring nurses are needed for safe patient care.
“BTec’s social care and health courses … offer an opportunity for low-income people and mature students who might otherwise be denied.”
The Department of Education advocated the replacement of BTecs by T Levels. “It is vital that qualifications meet the needs of employers and support more people in more skilled and paid jobs,” a spokesman said.
“Our T-level of health has been created in conjunction with employers, including the NHS, for students to acquire the skills and experience needed to start roles within the healthcare sector and progress in university and further studies. We will continue to fund BTecs and other degrees in the future when there is a clear need for young people to have access to high quality options. “