NHS to miss out on recruiting thousands of nurses if BTecs are scrapped

NHS Employers has expressed ‘serious concerns’ that abolishing BTecs will damage the NHS in England’s efforts to recruit enough nurses to fill the almost 40,000 vacancies it currently has. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA

The NHS will miss out on recruiting thousands of nurses every year as a direct result of the government scrapping BTec courses in health and social care, hospital bosses have warned.

NHS Employers wrote in a letter to the education secretary, James Cleverly, that it had “serious concerns” about the plan, which it fears will exacerbate the health service’s acute staffing problems.