Scots student nurses have highest rate of drop-outs in country

STUDENT nurses who drop out of university courses in the UK could be costing the taxpayer £100 million a year, figures suggest.

An investigation by Nursing Standard magazine suggests that Scotland has the highest drop-out rate in the UK at 30 per cent.

Wasted fees and the cost of financial support leads to a loss of 108m, according to data from the magazine.

The true figure could be higher because of extra payments made to students who are single parents or who have children, the investigation found.

Nursing Standard obtained 2008 data under the Freedom of Information Act from 70 higher education institutions.

Overall, 28 per cent of trainee nurses dropped out, with some courses losing more than half of their students.

Scotland had the highest drop-out rate in the UK at 30 per cent, followed by England at 28 per cent.

The figure for Wales was 20 per cent and 11 per cent in Northern Ireland.

Peter Carter, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: "Losing this number of potential nurses from the workforce is an entirely unnecessary waste, not only of money, but of people who are willing to care.

"Of course, some people will not be suited to the demands of nursing, but as far as possible this should be identified at the recruitment stage.

"Able nursing students should be properly supported financially to ensure they are able to complete their courses."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Attrition rates vary considerably across the country and the reasons why students do not complete their courses are often varied and complex.

"That is why the Scottish Government is investing 5m in a number of initiatives to support the recruitment and retention of nurses by improving pre-registration support."