NHS wants to take back my grant for paramedic training
I am a first-year student paramedic, having to self-fund my studies because this is my second degree course. Last December, I was told I had been granted £6,166 from the NHS Learning Support Fundand received the first term’s payment of £1,300. I have since received an email from NHS Business Services Authority(NHSBSA) saying that it has reassessed my application and that it has now been rejected. It is are now demanding that I repay the £1,300, which I can’t afford to do.NS, Farnham, Surrey
You highlight what is, to my mind, a scandal.Paramedic students, unlike almost all other healthcare undergraduates, have been shut out of government funding, including student loans and NHS grants, if they are studying the subject as a second degree. This means that a graduate who wants to retrain as a nurse, dentist or midwife will receive financial support, but if they choose to become a paramedic they must find £27,750 in tuition fees and their living costs.
The reason, according to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), is because paramedic science was only granted degree status in 2018 and therefore missed out when, in 2017, funding reforms allowed other healthcare courses to qualify for student loans. Since it became compulsory last September for new paramedics to hold a BSc degree, that effectively bars all but the most affluent of mature students from the profession.
The NHS Learning Support Fund was introduced to help healthcare students through the lengthy unpaid placements they must do as part of training. However, the grant, which amounts to at least £5,000 a year, is only available to those receiving a student loan, and since pre-registered paramedic students don’t qualify for a loan, they miss out on the grant as
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