Ensure student nurses and midwives are paid for working during Covid-19

The Government needs to ensure healthcare students that are placing themselves at risk on the frontline of the NHS are fairly remunerated. Students are also not expressly included in the Coronavirus Life Assurance Scheme and no longer have the choice to opt-out of practice.

We are now in a second national lockdown, despite this universities have remained open and healthcare students are continuing on placement as normal. Students are unable to see their families or friends and are working for free during a global pandemic. We are working with patients with unknown covid status due to a lack of capacity for isolation rooms and inpatient testing. We have none of the financial protections created for NHS staff. We deserve better.

The Government is extremely grateful for the significant contribution nursing and midwifery students have made during these extraordinary circumstances.

During the first wave of the pandemic, the Government anticipated a reduced NHS capacity to support students on clinical placements and a need to increase the workforce capacity. As a result, arrangements were quickly delivered to offer all student nurses the opportunity to opt into a paid placement. The response to this initiative was overwhelming, and the Government is truly grateful for the efforts and sacrifices made by healthcare students in these challenging times. These students were rewarded fairly for their hard work and received a salary and automatic NHS pension entitlement at the appropriate band. They continued to receive their student loan support and Learning Support Fund (LSF) payments as normal.

Due to the rapidly increasing transmission rates of Covid-19 and the emergence of a new variant of the virus placing strain on NHS services, the Government has deemed it necessary to take further action to ensure the NHS is not overwhelmed. On January 14, the Nursing and Midwifery Council announced that it was reintroducing the emergency education standards, to enable final year nursing students to opt into paid placements to support the response to the Covid-19 pandemic (https://www.nmc.org.uk/news/news-and-updates/statement-enabling-student-education-and-supporting-the-workforce/) . This decision was made following a request from the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in response to the continuing pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic. Like in wave one, student nurses opting into paid placements will be paid a salary and will receive an automatic NHS pension entitlement at the appropriate band. HEE student support guidance is available on their website (https://www.hee.nhs.uk/news-blogs-events/news/nursing-student-support-guidance-during-covid-19-published)