Nursing recruiters should brace themselves for further candidate shortages after new figures revealed almost a quarter of students drop out of their course before qualifying.

The lack of potential candidates in the UK will be worrying reading for recruiters in a sector already hampered by shortages.

However, Susan Watt, a student advisor at the Royal College of Nursing, says recruiters will have a major role to play in addressing the problems in the next few years.

“I think there will be a problem in getting nurses in the UK in two or three years' time when nurses in middle age will retire. Recruiters can help by encouraging clients to value the nurses' contribution more,” she said.

The figures, released by professional journal Nursing Standard, found that between 2000 and 2004, 24.8% of nursing students dropped out before they were due to qualify.

Watt blames the high dropout rate on the financial pressure faced by students and poor pay levels across the sector.

“The real problem is money. Student nurses in England receive about £2,000 a year in means-tested grants for an intensive degree covering 45 weeks a year - during which time they are discouraged from working,” she said.

“At the end of this they emerge on average with a student loan of £12,000 and a starting salary of £16,000.”

Hugo Lyons, managing director of recruiter Health Professionals, blames the high churn rate on the fees and expenses incurred while training.

Gary Spellins, chief executive of Thornbury Nursing Services, attributes the dropout rate to the increasing number of mature students coming into the profession as a second career, but then becoming disillusioned.

“For the foreseeable future I can't see this impacting on the demand for our services or our ability to deliver to clients,” he said.