A key pledge by the Prime Minister at the General Election was to increase the number of nurses in our NHS by 50,000. So it is great news that UCAS applications have increased by over a third in the last 12-months to 50,000 applicants.

The nursing profession has been at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19 in hospitals across the country, including locally at Walsall Manor, and also in social care settings and in the community and their heroic actions should never be forgotten. It is therefore really good to see so many others want to be part of the profession.