Student nurses are dropping out of their training because of poverty, a senior nurse claimed.

And public services union UNISON has organised a sleep-out for the students and other members who support their campaign to improve pay and conditions in the NHS.

The campaigners are calling for changes to the status of student nurses, who they say suffer poverty wages and inadequate working conditions.

More than 80 per cent of the students in York are in debt, with more than half owing more than £5,000 - 70 per cent are forced to work to subsidise their bursaries.

"It is very hard for them," said Edna Mulhearn, secretary of the York Health Services branch of UNISON.

"Some have to drop out because of lack of money. They are all strapped for cash."

She also claimed that the profession does not attract enough new recruits for financial reasons, painting a worrying picture for the future of nursing.

"It could be a problem in the long term," she told the Evening Press.

"A lot go for other professions because the bursaries mean getting into debt."

UNISON members will travel from different parts of the region and gather from 6pm at the Department of Health, Quarry Hill, Leeds on Friday, November 3, in protest at student poverty.

They want student nurses to receive comparable conditions to other NHS staff including: £9-£10,000 annual salaries; maternity benefit and access to higher education.

Karen Towner, organising assistant for UNISON in Yorkshire & Humberside, said the sleep-out was a vigil to draw attention to the plight of student nurses.

"Their pay and conditions are simply not good enough and we feel sure the public would agree.

"The sleep-out will show how desperate student nurses are to get their message across to the public and the government that they are the future of the Health Service and should be nurtured, not left behind in terms of pay and conditions."