BTec Courses to be Scrapped from Curriculum

 

NHS Employers have written a letter to the education secretary, James Cleverly, expressing their “serious concerns” about the plan to scrap BTec courses in health and social care.

 

They warn that this will exacerbate the NHS’s acute staffing problems, as BTecs provide an important route into nursing for many young people.

 

BTecs are long-established qualifications that help young people get jobs as support workers in nursing, midwifery and other health professions. Scrapping them would be a backwards step that would make it harder for the NHS to recruit the staff it needs.

 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NHS is already under immense strain and is facing a staffing crisis. The last thing it needs is for the Government to make it harder to recruit nurses.

 

The organisation’s chief executive, Danny Mortimer, told Cleverly in the letter that about a fifth of those studying for a nursing degree had done a health and social care BTEC.

 

Becs are important qualifications that help young people get jobs as support workers in nursing, midwifery and other health professions. Scrapping them would be a backwards step that would make it harder for the NHS to recruit the staff it needs.

 

The NHS is already under immense strain due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is facing a staffing crisis. The last thing it needs is for the Government to make it harder to recruit nurses by scrapping BTecs.

In addition to the letter, NHS Employers has also released a statement expressing their serious concerns about the Government’s plans.

 

Mortimer said: “At a time when the NHS is already extremely short-staffed and carrying 105,000 vacancies, depriving the health service of a pipeline of fresh nursing, midwifery, and other healthcare recruits is both reckless and ill-advised and could well leave the NHS, as well as our colleagues in social care, with several thousand more vacancies in the years ahead.”

 

 

The NHS is already under immense strain due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is facing a staffing crisis. The last thing it needs is for the Government to make it harder to recruit nurses by scrapping BTecs.

 

Mortimer continued: “As our letter makes clear, we urge the government to think again about this short-sighted decision and work with us on how best to address the health service’s significant workforce challenges in a way that doesn’t undermine our efforts to deliver high-quality patient care.”

 

 

We urge the government to reconsider this short-sighted decision and keep BTecs in place so that NHS employers can continue to recruit the nurses they need.

What are your thoughts on the new changes in the UK curriculum? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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