More than 10,000 student nurses are being fast-tracked onto the NHS frontline in the battle against coronavirus while still working around the clock on their dissertations.
With the death toll in Britain over the 18,000 mark and known cases at 133,495, hospitals need as many key workers as possible.
Third year student nurses do not officially qualify for their roles until September, although they already have thousands of hours experience, and have been asked to step up in these difficult times to help their colleagues.
Helen Pickett (pictured) is one of the thousands of student nurses joining the frontline fight against coronavirus to help the NHS before officially qualifying in September
The starting salary for a new-qualified nurse is around £23,000, but these students have also made huge sacrifices just to get to this position, working multiple jobs alongside their studies and work placements and going into tens of thousands of pounds of debt to pay for their training.
Two student nurses from Grimsby, Amber Salt and Helen Pickett will be starting work this week on the NHS frontlines, after being asked to do so early in an effort to combat the coronavirus.
They spoke about their passion for their new profession, saying that everyone who wants to become a nurse does so because of their love for helping others – but they’ve also highlighted the lack of financial support.
Helen said: ‘Everyone who trains to become a nurse does so because they love helping people and they want to do that full time.
‘It is a lot of hard work getting there though, with one of the most intensive training courses that anyone might do. Over three years we are expected to do 2,300 hours theory work, 2,300 hours on placement and that doesn’t include assignments and revision.
‘While all of this is a lot of pressure, it is also extremely rewarding, because you are out there training on the job and helping people. As student nurses we do a lot of the same work as full-qualified nurses, although there is always a member of staff watching over us and making sure that we are doing things correctly, offering mentorship and guidance.’
Amber said: ‘I am so proud to wake up every day and know that I am training to become a nurse, because I know what I am going to be doing will really make a difference in so many people’s lives.’
The pair have recently been asked, along with all other third and second year student nurses, if they would like to join NHS staff on the frontlines battling the coronavirus. This paid role will see them start their new professions slightly early, although they will still have assignments to finish.
Both nurses have volunteered to work on Covid wards. Amber has been told that she will definitely be on one of them, while Helen is yet to hear if she will be.
Amber Salt will start working at her local hospital this week and also has a dissertation to do
Helen said: ‘This week Amber and I will be starting work at our local hospital in order to help out during the coronavirus outbreak.
‘We were initially asked if we would like to work on a red or green ward, with the red wards being the ones for coronavirus patients. We both said that we would happily put ourselves out there and work in the red ones.
‘It is a little bit worrying, but we are more than happy to help because we want to make a difference and fight this.
‘We still have outstanding assignments and dissertations to do, but we won’t mind the extra pressure because we know that we will be helping our fellow health workers during this.
‘I also hope that it will make us better nurses in the future and give us more knowledge on what to do if this ever happens again.’
When a student nurse is taking part in one of the nine placements that they do over their three year course, they will work a normal full-time week at the hospital.
This will involve long 12 hour shifts, followed by studying everything that they might have learned that day while working, to make sure that they know everything that they need to. This training was all unpaid.
Amber said: ‘It is amazing how many patients do not realise that student nurses are not paid for the work that they do at a hospital. They see that we are doing the same work as other nurses and are just as important, and they are shocked when they realise we do it all for free.’
Helen said: ‘The life of a student nurse is a bit different to that other students. While we have to do the same long assignments and dissertations as them, they may not have spent most of their nights sitting by someone’s beside as they are dying or comforting a family while a loved one is going through treatment.’
They also highlighted the financial difficulties that nurses can face while training, especially those in their class who were the first year to not have access to the previous bursary and will also not have access to the newly announced one that begins in September this year.
Amber said: ‘When you start on your course they tell you that you shouldn’t work any extra jobs, because you are going to be so busy on the course that you could stretch yourself too thin.
‘In reality though, that is just not possible for many student nurses. Student nurses can range from 18 years old to over 50, and they may have families, mortgages and other commitments that they need to adhere to while they are studying.’
Helen said: ‘It is very very hard to try and just live off what loans are available to you, and the amount you receive from those are entirely based on your circumstances, so many don’t get the full amount, which is about £9,000 a year.
The crisis will see second and third year student nurses thrown in at the deep end to help
‘Even that is still almost impossible to live on, so many student nurses have to work extra jobs if they are going to get by.
‘We were the first year that did not have access to the bursary, and even that didn’t go far enough. We are also not able to receive help from the newly announced bursary, so many of us will start our careers already nearly £60,000 in debt.
‘We have often heard from people that it should be seen as a privilege that we have been given the opportunity to train as nurses. But it is really the other way around and the government and public should see it as a privilege that we have decided to train to become nurses.
‘This crisis has shown more than ever the importance of nurses, carers and key workers. We are the ones who have been supporting the country and keeping it going through this, and I don’t think that we should be hard done by financially for wanting to do so.’
The student nurses at Hull University, are now promoting a petition which is calling on the government to abolish the debt for student nurses and nurses.
Helen said: ‘We have a shortage of nurses because people haven’t been applying for training courses due to the financial barriers that have been in place.
‘The coronavirus outbreak has shown just how important nurses are in the country and if we are going to get more people into the profession then we need to encourage them to do so, and not have them being put off by the thought of going into debt.’