A three-year course to become a nurse in the Isle of Man costs £63,000.

The course, which is offered in partnership with the University of Chester, takes place in the island but does not require the qualified nurses to remain within Manx Care.

This was confirmed by Health Minister Lawrie Hooper during Tuesday’s Tynwald sitting. He said: ‘The course is £21,000 per annum based on current staffing and cohort sizes.

‘In the 2023/24 financial year, Manx Care had 40 places filled within the course which was almost double the amount of the previous year. Sixty people have now applied for a place on the nurse training programmes in the island commencing in September.

‘This represents an 18% increase in people applying for a place on these courses compared to last year.

‘At present, students are not tied into a requirement to continue working in the island after completion of the programme. However, 96% of nurses have over the last six years. This represents 107 out of 112 nurses who secured employment in the island after graduation.’

Mr Hooper confirmed that the DESC and Manx Care have had a large number of staff depart their roles in recent years, with most of these vacancies becoming open because of retirement.

But the Health Minister sees this as a positive because of the high number of nurses coming through training courses and straight into vacancies within Manx Care.

He added: ‘At the moment, we have no concerns in respect of being able to continue to offer that exceptionally high success rate in terms of employing nurses - we don't see that changing in any shape or form in the next few years.

‘All of these nurses trained in the island over the last six years are all Manx residents.’