Dundee University has said it will be able to cope with a cut in the number of student nurses it teaches.
It will see its intake for 2011/12 fall to 390 from 441 in the current academic year, an 11% drop mirrored at the other five Scottish universities which receive public funding to train nurses.
The reduction was ordered by health secretary Nicola Sturgeon. The Scottish Government said it was “in response to changing patterns of care and service delivery across NHS Scotland.”
Nationally, the intake will drop from more than 3000 this term to 2700 next.
Dundee University will see the number of nurses it trains who specialise in looking after children or mental health patients remain static, but there will be cuts in the number who look after adult patients and in the number of midwives.
However, managers were expecting the numbers to drop and have prepared accordingly.
A spokesman said, “From September we will be offering a new undergraduate nursing programme with a single intake of students rather than the dual system we have been operating.
“As part of the planning process, we factored in a likely reduction in the number of places we were able to offer and examined the staff numbers required to operate the new system. As such, we are confident that the plans put in place will allow us to implement this exciting new programme.”
It costs at least £45,000 to train a student nurse to degree level. Dundee University has been told it will be able to take on 154 trainee doctors and 66 trainee dentists in 2011/12, the same as this term.