Student-nurse dropout rate condemned

New figures have revealed that a quarter of student nurses failed to complete their undergraduate course in 2006.

Out of the 25,101 students that signed up to nursing undergraduate courses in 2006, 6,603 people dropped out midway through, statistics obtained by Nursing Standard magazine under the Freedom of Information Act showed.

The cost of this drop-out rate for taxpayers has been forecast at around £98m.

A great variation in the number of student-nurse dropouts was recorded by the research, with some universities only seeing 6% of nurses leave the course before completion, while the rate was as high as 56% at other institutions.

'The money wasted is deplorable and the effect on students and their families is enormous,' Student Adviser at the Royal College of Nursing, Gill Robertson, stated.

'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.'

The government announced earlier this week that nurses will benefit from a pay rise of 8% by 2011.