Newcastle students protest against cuts

In a week filled with protests against cuts surrounding the heath budget, the increase in junior doctors’ unsocial working hours and frequent news stories of the protests that Jeremy Hunt called “unnecessary”, it is no surprise that Newcastle was also protesting a few days beforehand.

On Saturday, a rally was held next to Grey’s Monument in Newcastle to protest against plans to cut the training bursaries given to nurses and midwives across the country.

Announced as a part of the Autumn Spending Review, the government’s plans means that this September would be the last time any student nurses or midwives in England are able to apply for the bursary to help them through training. Bursaries can amount to anything between £1,000 and £4,000 per year depending on where the students live. The scrapping of the means-tested support could save the government £800 million per year, ministers have said.

The protest came just before junior doctors took part in a twenty-four-hour strike against having to work longer, more unsociable hours in a new contract devised by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Critics say that the new contract involves pay cuts of up to 30%, while Mr Hunt claims he would be giving doctors a “good deal” as well as calling for the British Medical Association (BMA) to go back to negotiating with the government.

Speaking about the Newcastle protest, Chair of UNISON’s health group, Linda Hobson, said: “Student nurses work full-time hours in placement for around half the year and spend the rest of the time in lectures, without a summer holiday or Easter break. Taking away the NHS bursary will compromise their studies and therefore patient care.”