As part of the course, the students spend weeks working full-time in hospitals, while still paying for their degrees.
“It’s unpaid hours. There is student finance which does help but it doesn’t replace the loss of a wage. It’s really difficult,” Ms Peach said.
“I’m a responsible adult and have to contribute to the family household. We all have children and responsibilities, we’re juggling so much to be here,” she added.
Lucy Sheppard, a final-year student midwife from Nether Stowey in Somerset, had been working in maternity services and decided to take a midwifery course as she said it was suggested a job would be pretty much guaranteed.
But she said she was now accumulating thousands of pounds in student debt and struggling to find a job which would pay for it.