Burnley MP welcomes extra nurses for East Lancashire

A progress report published this week shows that overall the total number of nurses stands at 327,907, as of December 2021, compared to 300,904 in September 2019.

Mr Higginbotham said: “When I was elected, I promised to increase the number of nurses working within our NHS, because I know how important they are to the functioning of our healthcare services.

"My grandma was a nurse at Burnley General Hospital for many years and worked tirelessly to care for others, as do the thousands of nurses we have working across East Lancashire.

“I’m pleased to see that the figures show that we have more nurses working in the NHS than ever before. It means we can continue to provide world class healthcare for the residents of Burnley and Padiham and crucially tackle the backlog caused by the pandemic.

“The figures also show that this year alone applicants to nursing courses have increased 34% with the likes of Burnley College and UCLan playing a leading role in training up the next generation of nurses.

“There’s much more to do to make this an attractive career choice and I’ll continue to work with the Government, Trust and others to support our NHS so that residents have better local healthcare services as and when they need them.”

By March 2024, there are set to be around 351,000 full-time equivalent nurses to provide care across the health service with the report setting out the government’s plans for reaching the target.