This is the first time paramedic students will benefit from additional NHS funding while at university.

The funding will be provided on top of existing support, including student loans.

The full list of new and continuing students set to benefit from the funding is as follows:

dietetics

dental hygiene or dental therapy (level 5 and 6 courses)

occupational therapy

operating department practitioner (level 5 and 6 courses)

orthoptics

orthotics and prosthetics

physiotherapy

podiatry or chiropody

radiography (diagnostic and therapeutic)

speech and language therapy

paramedicine

midwifery

nursing (adult, child, mental health, learning disability, joint nursing/social work)

The government first announced the new funding in December. It said that all new and continuing nursing, midwifery students and many allied health students on pre-registration courses at English universities will receive a £5,000 maintenance grant each year if they’re eligible. They will not need to pay it back.

Extra payments worth up to £3,000 per academic year will be available for eligible students. Each year they could receive:

£1,000 towards childcare costs

£1,000 if studying in a region that is struggling to recruit

£1,000 if they’re a new student studying a shortage specialism important to delivering the NHS Long Term Plan

The shortage specialisms have been confirmed as:

mental health nursing

learning disability nursing

radiography (diagnostic and therapeutic)

prosthetics and orthotics

orthoptics and podiatry

The government expects the £5,000 maintenance grants to benefit around 100,000 pre-registration nursing, midwifery and allied health degree students every year.

It comes as part of the government’s manifesto commitment to increase nurse numbers by 50,000 by 2025.

Minister for Public Health Jo Churchill said:

From paramedics to physiotherapists, radiographers to speech and language therapists, our talented allied health professionals are the third largest workforce in the NHS and support people to live better lives. As demand grows, we need more of the best and brightest to join our NHS. I want those who would relish the job of saving people’s lives as a paramedic or diagnosing cancer as a radiographer to come forward to train, taking advantage of this fantastic new £5,000 support package.

Minister for Care Caroline Dinenage said: