Nursing drop-out rate rising

Published on Tuesday 8 April 2008 22:41

THE number of nursing students dropping out of their course is rising, figures revealed yesterday.

Across the UK, 26.3 per cent of student nurses due to finish their programme in 2006 left early, up from 24.8 two years earlier, according to Nursing Standard magazine.

Drop-outs are estimated to cost more than 98 million a year, the magazine said.

Figures obtained by Nursing Standard magazine found 15 per cent of nursing trainees at Glasgow Caledonian University dropped out of their course, making it among the ten lowest drop-out rates in the UK. The lowest was 6 per cent at the University of Liverpool.

Gill Robertson, a student adviser at the Royal College of Nursing, said: "The money wasted is deplorable and the effect on students and their families is enormous.

"It is time that much more work and investment was in place to reduce this. If it is possible in some universities, it is possible in them all."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "If a student nurse drops out of training, then the funding for that place ceases.

"Universities therefore have a tangible incentive to keep students in their courses."