Mental health plan will see creation of 21,000 posts, says Jeremy Hunt

An expansion plan for NHS mental health services will see 21,000 new posts created, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said.

The £1.3bn drive will involve increasing the number of trained nurses, therapists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals to treat an extra one million people by 2021 and providing services seven days a week.

Retaining staff and encouraging some of the 4,000 psychiatrists and 30,000 trained mental health nurses not substantively employed by the NHS to return to the profession will also form a major part of the plan.

Mr Hunt said: "As we embark on one of the biggest expansions of mental health services in Europe it is crucial we have the right people in post – that’s why we’re supporting those already in the profession to stay and giving incentives to those considering a career in mental health.

"These measures are ambitious, but essential for delivering the high performing and well-resourced mental health services we all want to see."

Mr Hunt told Sky News is was important to do more because "we still have too many tragedies, too many young lives cut short because we’re not helping people quickly enough".

Professor Wendy Burn, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, which helped devise the plan, said: "As medically trained doctors, psychiatrists are vital to the treatment of mental illness. You would expect to see a consultant if you had cancer and the same applies for mental health.

"The 570 extra consultants promised in this strategy will be crucial to delivering the high-quality, robust mental health services of the future."

But the Royal College of Nursing questioned whether enough people could be trained in such time, and if there were the resources to do so.

Chief executive Janet Davies said: "The Government’s policies appear not to add up.

"If these nurses were going to be ready in time, they would be starting training next month. But we have seen that the withdrawal of the bursary has led to a sharp fall in university applications and we are yet to see funding for additional places.

"There is already a dangerous lack of workforce planning and accountability and this report is unable to provide detail on how the ambitions will be met."

Labour’s shadow minister for mental health, Barbara Keeley, said the plan provided "no real answers on how the new posts will be funded or how recruitment issues will be overcome".

She added: "It offers little hope to those working in the sector faced with mounting workloads, low pay and poor morale.

"Time and again the Tories have been warned that severe staffing shortages are affecting patient care.

"Only this month the Care Quality Commission highlighted staffing levels, in particular the cuts to mental health nurses, as a contributing factor to 40% of mental health services now failing on safety grounds."

(c) Sky News 2017: Mental health plan will see creation of 21,000 posts, says Jeremy Hunt