85,000 more nurses work in the NHS now than in 1997

A poll for Nursing Standard found half the strategic health authorities in England respond to its survey were cutting training posts.

Although the average reduction for England was 10%, some units said they were reducing places by as much as 40%.

The Department of Health said nursing training numbers would reduce as the NHS workforce began to "stabilise".

It is madness. We have an ageing population and workforce Jane Naish RCN

The magazine quizzed all 28 strategic health authorities. Of these 21 responded, with 10 saying they planned to cut training numbers by between 3% and 24% authority wide.

Paul Turner, executive officer of the Council of Deans and Heads of the UK Nursing faculties, said it looked like around one in 10 places would be lost.

"But in some cases there are more substantial reductions - 30% in one course and possibly up to 40% in another," he said.

The Royal College of Nursing, which represents nurses, said moves to cut the number of student nurses were short-sighted.

"It is madness," said RCN policy adviser Jane Naish. "We have an ageing population and workforce.

"We have already seen a decrease in the number of district nurses, and health visitor numbers are at a standstill.

"We have to have enough nurses coming through," she added.

'Targets exceeded'

The Royal College of Nursing has already warned that many nurses in training risk not getting jobs because so many health trusts across the country have brought in recruitment freezes and are axing posts.

Concerns were expressed at the nursing union's annual conference in Bournemouth, at which Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt was booed and heckled.

The union said up to 5,000 nursing jobs were to be cut in one region, the West Midlands, alone.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "When we launched the NHS Plan in 2000, the public made clear their top priority was to have more staff working in the NHS.

"We delivered on that, and exceeded the targets we set. We now have over 85,000 more nurses working in the NHS in England than in 1997."

Local demand

She continued: "In recent years the rate of growth has eased off. We still have record numbers working in the NHS, but the annual increase has got smaller.

"In future, as the size of the NHS workforce stabilises, our emphasis will be on staff working differently, in order to deliver more personalised services for patients," she added.

The strategic health authorities answering the survey said the changes to course places were in response to local workforce plans and demands for jobs.

Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire health authority, for example, said it was reducing training places by a fifth in response to local needs.