Hundreds of nurses and midwives marched through London today in protest at government plans to remove maintenance bursaries for students in England.
Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and other unions marched from St Thomas' Hospital to Downing Street to protest against plans to abolish the grants and replace them with loans.
RCN chief executive Janet Davies said: "The message from nurses is loud and clear: these proposals would reduce the supply of nursing staff and damage patient care.
"They represent a huge gamble with the future of the nursing workforce and the Government has not properly evaluated the many risks involved."
Two thirds of nurses say they would not have studied without the grants, according to a new RCN survey.
But the Government has said that abolishing them will free up funding to allow more nurses to train and enter the workforce.
The plan to replace maintenance bursaries with loans was announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review in November.
