‘The government knows that when there aren’t enough nurses, patients can pay the very highest price.’

The number of students starting nursing degree courses is likely to fall again this year unless the government takes urgent action, a report from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said.

And given this crisis, the government must assure the tens of thousands of EU nurses and carers working across the UK that they have the right to stay as the date for exit from the EU gets closer.