BRADFORD Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has said it is "delighted" at the increased number of applications for student nurse courses in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Trust said it has seen a significant rise in applications for courses through university and also on its direct-entry apprenticeship courses.
It followed the University of Bradford announcing earlier today that applications for its nursing courses have gone up a third.
Ucas also revealed a similar rise in applications for courses across the country, as school leavers and mature students have been "inspired" by the work of the NHS in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic over the past 12 months to pursue a career in healthcare.
Karen Dawber, chief nurse at Bradford Teaching Hospitals, said: “We’re delighted to see a big increase in the number of student nurses wanting to join our Trust.
"This is matched by their enthusiasm to be part of the NHS at such a critical time and their commitment to caring for our patients.
“As a teaching trust, with many opportunities for nurses to further their careers, we’ve always been a popular choice but over the past few months we have seen an increase in the number of student nurses coming to us both via the UCAS route and direct entry apprenticeships.
“We work closely with Bradford University and Bradford College, which is a satellite centre for the Bolton University nursing degree course, to support new intakes of nursing students.
“We also want to ‘grow our own’ - for any aspiring nurses out there we now have a direct career pathway from healthcare assistant right through to apprentice registered nurse, and finally staff nurse. This means you can enter at any level no matter what your past experience or qualifications may be.
“We are proud to be anchor institute for the people of Bradford: our staff are our people and our people are our staff. The talent we have in the city is amazing and we want to harness this.”
Information about a career in the NHS and how to apply to study nursing can be found at the Trust's website.
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