STUDENT NURSES AT BURNOUT RISK

Used as unpaid labour to plug staffing gaps in NHS crisis, says union

- MARTIN BAGOT

STUDENT nurses are at risk of burnout before they even qualify because hospital bosses use them as unpaid labour, the Royal College of Nursing warns.

The union says the students are plugging staffing gaps while on work placements.

Some say they end up working 60 hours a week as a result.

General Secretary Nicola Ranger said: "We cannot have a situation where nursing students are burnt out before they have even qualified.

"They are used to prop up understaffed wards following years of under investment in the profession."

The practice is a breach of rules that state that students must not be counted as part of the staffing required for safe and effective care.