Eligible students on a range of health courses, such as dental and medical, will be able to claim 50% more for travel and accommodation as part of government measures to boost training.
More students from low-income families will also be given financial help, according to a government announcement on Friday 1 September.
Students will be able to claim more money for any trips taken as part of their training, such as placements in clinical settings. For example, a student who travels 1,000 miles by car or motorcycle during their placement will now receive £420 compared to £280 under the previous rates.
The government will also uplift the means-testing threshold to £26,076 from £24,279. This is the amount a student’s parents or partner can earn before their income becomes deductible from the student’s means-tested bursary, and will increase the amount of means-tested funding available to support medical students
Demand for dentistry
These measures follow the publication of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, which committed to a huge expansion of education and training places.The changes came into effect from the 1 September, just in time for the 2023 to 2024 academic year.
Demand for dental services is currently not being met by the current NHS dental workforce. This has led to calls from the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee, as well as a number of healthcare sector bodies, for the UK to expand the number of dentists it trains.
It is hoped this increased financial support will allow more budding dentists to access an education.
Support is ‘vital’
Dr Navina Evans, chief workforce, training and education officer for NHS England, said: ‘Changes to the Learning Support Fund and NHS Bursary Scheme is a welcome boost for healthcare students. Financial support is key to helping to attract a diverse range of students onto healthcare courses, many of which may be mature students with families they need to financially support while they learn.
‘While on clinical placements, healthcare students are honing their skills and providing frontline care to patients. It is vital that we ensure that those that need support aren’t left out of pocket during these training periods.
‘We know that making the NHS an attractive place to work and train is vital to achieving the ambitions laid out in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, and hope this increased funding will go some way to achieving that.’
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