Nursing Student Support guidance during COVID-19 published

New guidance providing information for nursing students on how they can help the NHS during the pandemic and how their health and wellbeing and education will be supported has been published today by Health Education England.  

It follows last week's announcement that the Nursing and Midwifery Council will reintroduce emergency education standards to enable student nurses in the last year of their programmes to support the Covid-19 response, should they wish to.   

The guidance provides a wealth of information covering a wide range of issues including student finance, welfare and wellbeing. 

Professor Mark Radford, Chief Nurse, Health Education England said:   

I am delighted that we are able to provide this new guidance for the fantastic nursing students who want to help the NHS during these unprecedented times.   

It is really important we can provide as much clarity as we can for our  students including those who are asked to consider opting in for paid placements.

I want to reassure them that we are committed to doing everything we can to ensure they have support and information they need to continue with their learning during this very difficult time. We are truly grateful for the contribution all students have and continued to make in our clinical teams while on placement and are committed to minimising the disruption to student learning as much as is possible. ”   

Ruth May, Chief Nursing Officer, England said:

“My priority is our people – those working with us now and in the future. This important update supports our commitment to providing the clarity and support students need to choose to join a paid placement at this incredibly challenging time.”  

The guidance may be subject to further development in future.   

To view the guidance go to: https://www.hee.nhs.uk/covid-19/nursing-midwifery