Mental Health Units Across The NHS Are Missing 10% Of Their Workforce

[Northerner]

The mental health sector has the worst staffing problems in the NHS, new figures have revealed.

At the end of December 2018, there were 20,286 unfilled positions for mental health workers in England – almost a tenth of the sector’s workforce (9.6%).

Former health minister Norman Lamb – who unearthed the data – has demanded more money from the government to tackle the “disproportionate vacancy rates”.

“They form just part of a set of challenges which we must confront if there is to be meaningful parity between physical and mental health,” he said.

With a total of 100,521 vacancies across the NHS in England at the end of 2018, the average vacancy rate was 8.4%.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/mental-health-staffing-nhs_uk_5c8a76cfe4b0fbd76621e337

 

[mikeyB]

In Scotland, they are asking recently retired GPs if they’d like year or two in the Highlands and Islands. Don’t know if they’ve had any success. Knowing GPs, bet there’s a waiting list for Islay.

 

[trophywench]

LOL - ruefully. We are acquainted with an NHS MH nurse who was sponsored to take the degree course and become a Specialist MH Nurse. Duly qualified he was expected to cover for all the missing MH doctors so he could be the most senior MH medic in the hospital over weekends nights or fortnights.

He went downhill mentally very very soon after that - sheer stress - and got himself a different job entirely away from the NHS. He had to - he's a married man with 4 kids and needed to stay sane and solvent.

No wonder they can't fill vacancies. Any private company would have gone bust, and if NHS 'managers' doing this kind of thing were medically qualified I should hope they'd have been struck off.