A petition has been launched demanding Cardiff University keep its school of nursing open following ‘devastating’ closure proposals.
The petition, which was started last week and currently has over 15,000 signature, has urged the university find ‘another solution’ to its financial constraints that does not include the closure of its nursing programmes.
Many have taken to the petition site to share their concerns about the potential closure, including warning that the decision will ‘undermine an already depleted workforce’.
One commentor said: ‘It’s appalling that a first rank nursing school in Wales is closing due to lack of money.
‘The closing will have a ripple effect on reducing the quality of care that will take decades to recover. Please keep the nursing school open.’
Another added: ‘I feel sorry for the few nurses that have to hold the fort more and more these days.
‘Government should be prioritising the nurses and doctor shortages that are so necessary. Please rethink this important issue.’
There are well over 1,000 students in the Cardiff University School of Nursing, which is ranked first in Wales and is a centre for excellence.
In the text accompanying the petition, its signatories praise the ‘passionate’ nursing department staff who ‘put their heart and souls’ into the school.
‘The nursing department is full of warm, intelligent, passionate people with a wealth of knowledge, who are at danger of losing their livelihoods.
‘We stand in solidarity with the university staff affected by this decision,’ it said.
Dr Ricky Hellyar is a nurse lecturer at Cardiff’s School of Nursing where he also completed his masters, doctorate and PGCE training.
He told Nursing in Practice that the closure of the school could have a particular impact on women and students from marginalised backgrounds who live nearby.
‘If we close what we’ll lose [and] what saddens me the most, is the loss of opportunities for local people from marginalised backgrounds who want to enter a Russell Group university,’ he said.
Cardiff is the only Russell Group nursing school in Wales and has a cohort with a significant number of women, LGBT+ and Black and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, he noted.
Dr Hellyer explained that despite seeing a fall in nursing students in recent years, the school still had around 800 nurses per year, most of which went on to join the nursing workforce across Wales.
‘I want to be part of a workforce which produces world class nurses, and we do produce world class nurses, highly educated, highly skilled at Cardiff,’ he said.
‘I feel so privileged to work with students who are looking to dedicate their lives to the care of others. It will be devastating if Cardiff closes.’
A Cardiff University spokesperson said the university was ‘acutely aware’ of its role in providing future healthcare professionals for Wales, and that it is ‘actively consulting’ with stakeholders on the proposals.
‘It’s important to stress that these are proposals and there is still a great deal of detail to work through before any final decisions are made,’ they said.
‘In the short term there will be no immediate impact on nursing students or their ability to complete their studies.’
The university said last week that it plans to deliver all nursing degree programmes to students starting in 2025.
When the plans were first announced, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in Wales warned the move had ‘the potential to threaten the pipeline of registered nurses into the largest health board in Wales and undermines efforts to address the critical staffing crisis in the NHS and social care’.
Last November, RCN Wales revealed that over half the number of general practice nurses (GPNs) in Wales were nearing retirement age.
Also in November, NHS nurses working in Wales rejected a 5.5% pay increase proposed by the Welsh Government.
