Kavitha's Story

Meet Kavitha, a 34-year-old from Ealing Central and Acton who wanted to train as a nurse but couldn't get a place on a nursing course. Her story reveals how HM Treasury's budget constraints have created artificial shortages in NHS training places across London. While hospitals desperately need qualified staff and motivated people like Kavitha are ready to train, Health Education England's spending limits treat public investment as a cost to minimise rather than the pathway to getting trained professionals onto understaffed wards. The training capacity exists, the demand exists, but Westminster's political choice to cap budgets blocks the pipeline. Disclosure: This episode discusses public spending and monetary policy from a post-Keynesian economic perspective.