Unsafe and under-staffed

Mental health nurse (MHN) numbers have dropped by almost a sixth since the Tories took power in 2010 new figures show, despite continued government promises to improve ailing mental health services.

The statistics highlight the deepening crisis faced by NHS mental health care, with Unite MHN’s across the country describing unsafe, under-staffed and under-resourced work environments that are failing patients and driving qualified professionals out of the job.

In response to a parliamentary question health minister Philip Dunne said in a written answer that there were 38,774 MHNs working in England in July this year, compared to 45,384 in 2010 – a drop of 6,610 nurses. The 15 per cent fall equates to the loss of around 1,000 specialist nurses per year.

The figures showed that mental health hospitals have been hit hardest by the fall in staff. In 2010 a total of 24,581 MHNs worked in such environments, but by July 2016 that number had dropped by 22 percent to 19,170.

Labour MP Luciana Berger, who obtained the answer, described the figures as “a very worrying downward trend” that shows no sign of reversal “despite all the government’s pronouncements and pledges”.

She warned that patient care and recovery were being jeopardised because health service budget cuts are leaving overworked MHNs unable to cope.

A department of health spokesman contended that “progress was being made” claiming that more junior doctors and psychiatrists were filling the gap, however Berger’s comments were echoed by a number of Unite MHNs.

“Staff morale is very low in our trust and we are losing good practitioners. We have far too many locum staff which is not cost effective and not providing continuity of care. There is ongoing restructuring, which once done changes again. We actually do not have the staff to do some of what they ask and yet we are told it will have to happen,” a Unite MHN explained.

Dedicated

“I’m dedicated to my work and to caring for the vulnerable. However, the workload is increasing beyond our ability to care for people safely. I’m seriously looking at alternative training and options outside of the NHS,” said another.

A recent survey of 135 Unite MHN members found that 64 per cent have seen their workloads “increase a lot” over the last year, while around 70 per cent reported that their moral had worsened because of “dissatisfaction with the quality of care you feel about to provide”. Forty-seven per cent were “very seriously” considering going into a different profession.

Chair of Unite’s Mental Health Nurses Association (MHNA), George Coxon, himself an MHN, said the situation had to change.

“Such a huge loss of skill and expertise in the rank and file of mental health nursing is impossible to justify, even amid this extended period of austerity and attrition which is putting indefensible cost pressures across health and social care,” Coxon said.

Unite’s lead professional officer for mental health, Dave Munday, blasted the government’s empty promises to improve mental health services and said that “actions speak louder than words”.

Munday said, “One in four adults experience a mental health problem in any given year and one in 10 children have a mental health problem, yet despite their pledges to do the opposite the Tories have decimated services.

“If the government truly wants to deliver a compassionate service it needs to urgently reverse the cuts to MHNs and ensure that the often promised funding improvements in mental health services materialise.”