'I can't find entry-level nursing jobs in London'

Isabel Mills will qualify as a nurse in October after studying at City St George's, University of London for the past three years, but she has been unable to find a nursing job in the capital.

Mills, from Welling in south-east London, has spent the past couple of months applying for jobs and said she was increasingly concerned by the lack of entry-level opportunities.

"If I search in London, a lot of the jobs are Band 8 which is for managers," she said. "There aren't many options unless you want to move out of London."

NHS Vacancy statistics show that as of March 2026, the Registered Nursing staff group had a vacancy rate of 5%, with 21,643 vacancies.

New nurses typically apply for entry-level Band 5 positions, but statistics show that the number of those jobs has been falling, particularly in London.

A Freedom of Information request submitted by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) to the NHS Business Services Authority found advertised Band 5 nursing roles in London fell from 4,762 in 2019-20 to 1,533 in 2024-25, a decline of 67.8%.

Mills said: "The majority of the Band 5 jobs are up north, which is obviously OK if you want to relocate, but you've trained in London... you don't then want to have to go to another area."

Conversely, more students have been accepted to study in London.

Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) figures show acceptances on to pre-registration nursing courses have risen from 3,650 in 2023 to 4,010 in 2024 and 4,275 last year.

That equates to almost three students being accepted on to a course for every entry level job advertised in London last year.

"There's also a backlog of people who graduated last year, and then the year before that, and they are also applying for these jobs as well," Mills said.

"There's not really any newly qualified posts, so we're applying for jobs where people applying have already worked in nursing, so they have more experience."

The RCN said the profession was facing an unprecedented employment bottleneck.

The union called on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to publish the government's delayed NHS Workforce Plan, which is expected to set out staffing requirements for the next decade. It was due in the spring but was delayed.

The RCN's London regional director, Lisa Elliott, said the system was "under significant pressure" and a "robust workforce plan" was needed.

She said: "NHS trusts have had to tighten their belts... that means there are less jobs available, so there's less movement in NHS trusts, less people are going up the employment ladder, so there are less vacancies for those newly qualified nurses."

The Department of Health and Social Care said nurses played a crucial role in the NHS workforce, and it wanted all graduates to have better job opportunities to use their skills to provide the best care for patients.

It said the NHS Workforce Plan would be published in due course and would "put the NHS workforce on a sustainable footing".

"Our approach will be responsive and agile to changes in how we deliver care, supporting the workforce and growing it where needed to deliver better care and outcomes," a spokesperson said.

They added that the department was working with partners to improve graduate opportunities, including developing a new job-finding app.

The RCN said it had advised graduates to broaden their search and consider roles across the health and social care sector.

Mills has secured a job as a family support worker, but becoming a nurse remains her goal.

"I've worked so hard over the last three years, I'm so passionate about nursing and wanting to make a difference in people's lives," she said.

"It feels like I might not be able to do that for quite a long time and that's frustrating.

"I might get out of practice if I'm not able to find a job for a while."

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