Drop In Mental Health Nurses since Conservative Party Take Over

NHS Mental Health nurses have dropped by almost a sixth since the Conservative party came into power in 2010, figures show.

Health minister, Philip Dunne, has admitted that there were 45,384 mental health nurses working in England in 2010, and as of July 2016 there are only 38,774. The fall of over 6,000 nurses represents the loss of about 1,000 specialists a year. Or 15% of the entire workforce providing this vital care to patients over the last six and half years.

The Royal College of Nursing claims these figures prove that patients are being let down and ministerial pledges of recent years are not being met.

Mental health hospitals have seen the biggest fall in nursing staff. In 2010 a total of 24,581 nurses worked in these settings, but it is reported by this July it had dropped by 5,411 posts (22%).

The only are of mental health care to see a rise in nurses working in it from 2010 is community psychiatry. Within the last 6 years this type of nursing has grown by 486.

The Department of Health said these figures did not show the full picture of people in the mental health workforce and that the number of junior doctors and consultants working in psychiatry has been going up.

SOURCE: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/01/number-mental-health-nurses-nhs-drops-sixth-tories

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