If we want to invest in our future NHS workforce, then studying medicine should be affordable

Abstract

Students should not feel they have to abandon their medical career because of a lack of financial support while at medical school The BMA recently published survey data that found 43% of UK medical students out of 3500 surveyed have considered taking a break or leaving their course entirely because of financial difficulties.1 As a graduate entry medical student who has taken time out of my course due to financial pressures, I think it is clearer than ever that increased financial investment is necessary to support the future of our NHS workforce. With the rising cost of living, both student finance and the NHS bursary are proving to be insufficient to meet students’ everyday expenses, but the latter is particularly meagre. In the second year of medical school, graduate entry students transition from being funded by Student Finance England to an NHS bursary. For students on standard entry medical courses, this switch happens in their fifth year of study. This change was introduced so that the NHS could directly fund healthcare students, a scheme brought about to incentivise studying medicine, but while it …