Urgent action needed to increase mental health nursing numbers

The whole health service faces staffing challenges, with 124,000 vacancies overall at the end of December and nearly 44,000 nursing vacancies. But new analysis by the Nuffield Trust, commissioned by the NHS Confederation, shows mental health nursing faces particularly serious challenges.

Nearly one third of all nursing vacancies are accounted for by mental health trusts and almost one in five posts at mental health trusts were not filled with a substantive employee at the end of last year. And while the number of mental health nurses has increased – by 11% since 2015 – this is half the level of increase seen in children’s and adult nursing.

Mental health nursing also benefits far less from international recruitment than nursing in general. While half the new registered nurses last year trained abroad, the contribution for mental health nurses was far smaller. In the financial year 2021/22, just 508 mental health nurses joined the UK register from abroad – equivalent to 0.5% of the total mental health nursing workforce. For adult nurses, the number of international joiners in year was the equivalent of 4% of the register.

The report said there was scope to improve attrition rates during training and participation in the NHS following graduation – as well as improving new routes such as apprenticeships. But with demand increasing for mental health services, the domestic supply of new nurses needed to be ‘sufficient and sustainable’.

Sean Duggan (pictured), chief executive of the NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network said that mental health leaders could not solve the staffing crisis on their own. ‘This relentless pressure on mental health staff cannot be allowed to continue with the ultimate impact being on the patients who most need that care,’ he said.

And Nuffield Trust senior fellow and lead report author Billy Palmer said there was an ‘urgent imperative’ for the government to get the domestic recruitment of mental health nurses right. ‘Unfortunately, there is no single solution that works for all, and the picture is mixed across England,’ he said. ‘We need to understand the impact on all areas of the country, with some regions, such as the East of England, particularly suffering from these staffing issues.’

While last year’s national review of mental health nursing had led to concrete steps for improvement, Dr Palmer said that action could not be delayed any longer if vital mental health services were to be sustainable.

Meanwhile, NHS England launched a new blended learning degree this week, offering undergraduate nursing students the chance to specialise in community, primary and social care nursing. The degree is being offered by three universities – Anglia Ruskin, Chichester and West London – and has been developed following a commitment in the NHS long-term plan. The blended learning degree combines in-person, online and digital learning and gives students more choice of where they take up their practical placements.