More than 29,000 applicants were accepted onto places to study nursing next year, new figures show.
New data by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) showed that English universities offered places to 29,440 nursing applicants in 2022.
Although this is a fall in the number of places offered compared to the last two years. Health Education England welcomed the news, as the number of places offered has maintained an increase from 2019, when the organization committed to growing the number of nursing degree placements.
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Professor Mark Radford, chief nurse at Health Education England said he was delighted that there were 56,155 applications submitted to study nursing in 2023 and over 29,000 places offered.
He said: 'Nursing is a valuable and rewarding career choice and the number of prospective students showing an interest in nursing is encouraging to the profession.'
However, the Royal College of Nursing, chief executive Pat Cullen found the figures “deeply troubling” as they show the number of nurses entering education is falling.
'With record waiting lists, we need the pipeline of the nurses of the future to be expanding, not contracting,' said Ms Cullen.
She added: 'That acceptances on to nursing-degree courses, and applications to them, is falling does not bode well for our profession, or for the safety of patients.'