Nurses warn of mental health services strain

[Northerner]

Staff cuts and bed shortages are leaving mental health services "under unprecedented strain", says the nurses' union.

The Royal College of Nursing says there are now 3,300 fewer posts in mental health nursing, and 1,500 fewer beds, than in 2010.

At the same time demand has increased by 30%, the RCN said.

A Department of Health spokesman said mental health was a "priority" for the government.

But a mental health charity said cuts were damaging the care patients received, leaving them needing long-term support.

According to the RCN's figures, mental health nursing posts declined by 8% in the past four years in England.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30150747

 

[Mrs Mad Ronin]

This is no surprise. I have watched the mental health service change dramatically over the last 18 months. Unfortunately i have to use it with my partner and the treatment/services he gets now is few and far between because of the cuts. There is hardly any mental health services out there anymore

 

[trophywench]

We've an acquaintance who is a mental health nurse, the equivalent of a Sister, the hospital sponsored him to do his degree to become a Specialist MH nurse.

Within 12 months, they'd dropped one of the Doctors posts and Paul has to fill in that gap, instead of nursing. That was their Plan all along, just didn't tell him. So all the care below him has now been diluted accordingly by the loss of his experience and above him because of the loss of the doctor.

That's just one small example in the overall scheme.