STUDENT PARAMEDICS AND THE LEARNING SUPPORT FUND

That this House notes that, as part of the Government's health education funding reforms, new students in England starting a nursing, midwifery or allied health professional course can apply for financial support from the Learning Support Fund (LSF); regrets that this does not extend to those students studying university paramedic courses; believes that student paramedics face similar costs and should not be excluded from accessing potential sources of financial support; further notes that in April 2018, according to job vacancy figures, ambulance services in England were short of almost 1,000 staff; and therefore calls on the Government to allow student paramedics to apply for support from the LSF as a way of tackling high attrition rates on paramedic courses and improving the retention of student paramedics within the NHS workforce.