Working conditions and bursary scrapping blamed for NHS nursing crisis

There is a shortage of nurses in the NHS due to the number of those leaving the health service and an insufficient level being trained.

The working conditions within is being blamed for those quitting the profession, while the scrapping of bursaries for those in training is being pinpointed a the reason why so few are in training.

Karen Summers quit her role as a nurse after seeing the worsening situation in hospitals, she told ITV News: "If they [nurses] didn't cry coming in because they knew what the day was going to hold in store, then they would go home crying and that's very difficult to see."

Karen is just one of a departing the NHS, after she chose to take early retirement.

There are now 40,000 nursing vacancies within NHS England, but there are too few being trained for the roles.

Trainee nurse Grace Stephenson believes the ending of bursaries for trainee nurses is a key factor behind the shortfall.

"A lot of mature students want to become nurses and without bursaries they're worries about doing the course," Grace told ITV News.