A GWENT woman's dreams of a career in nursing have had to be put on hold because of a lack of childcare support for her daughter.

Angry Natasha Sellars said she had no choice but to abandon her nursing degree course as she could not get any help to pay an "impossible" £5,000-a-year childcare bill.

And one of Wales' top nurses has admitted that the issue is a serious one for a profession grappling with recruitment and retention problems.

Most undergraduate degree students in England and Wales qualify for extra benefits and a childcare grant worth up to £5,000 to help mothers study.

But local education authorities do not help with NHS courses, and the NHS in Wales can offer Ms Sellars little help with the huge sum she would need to pay for childcare for two-year-old Ella.

"I chose nursing as a steady job, as I wanted security for my child. It sounds ironic now," said Ms Sellars, aged 31, of Station Road, Abergavenny.

"It seems ridiculous and I don't understand how this situation could ever arise. Most other students would get childcare help, so I assumed I would.

"It's a full-time course and Ella would need full-time care. Surviving on the remainder of my NHS bursary would be impossible."

Ms Sellars was about to start a three-year paediatric nursing diploma at the University of Wales College of Medicine at Cardiff. She had waited more than 18 months to get a place on the course.

Ella's childcare would eat up most of Ms Sellars' £8,000 NHS bursary, leaving the pair with just £39 a week to live on.

"Five thousand pounds for childcare is a shocking figure and would be expensive for someone earning £30,000 a year, never mind living off £8,000," said Ms Sellars.

Now she plans to find a job and wait another 18 months until Ella is old enough to go to school.

* Pictured, student nurse Natasha Sellars, with her daughter Ella