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Accessible Summary: What is known on the subject?: Nurses work in mental health services around the world, constituting the largest professional group.Nurses have been identified as being potentially able to carry out a much wider range of functions than are typically allowed in practice, when provided with suitable training.There are long‐term concerns regarding shortages of mental health nurses in England and many other countries.Workforce data is rarely subject to analysis in peer‐reviewed journals. What the paper adds to existing knowledge?: This paper provides a case study of the workforce patterns of a national mental health nurse (MHN) workforce overtime allowing comparison with other countries and specialities.MHN numbers reduced from 2011 to 2017, then increased to near the 2011 level by 2021, not meeting ambitious national plans for increasing numbers.The mental health nursing proportion of the total NHS nursing workforce decreased through this period.Advanced practice roles and skills are widely, but unevenly, distributed and are provided by a small proportion of nurses.The proportion of nurses working in community settings has increased to constitute more than half of all nurses for the first time.The ratio of support workers to nurses increased in inpatient settings and will continue to change. What are the implications for practice?: Historical challenges in recruiting MHNs suggest that future plans to expand the profession are overly optimistic.To support the development of advanced practice roles and new skill sets, clearer research evidence of impact is required and clearer national guidance regarding best practice models.Good workforce data are essential to inform good workforce planning. Introduction: Data regarding changes in characteristics of the MHN workforce is commonly cited in governmental publications, but is rarely analysed in peer‐reviewed journals, despite ongoing concerns regarding high vacancy rates within mental health services. Aim: The aim of the study was to characterize changes in the MHN workforce, implementation of new nursing roles/skills and alignment with national policy. Method: Analysis of nationally published workforce data, peer‐reviewed publications and governmental policy/planning documents. Results: Nurse numbers declined from 2011 to 2017, subsequently returning to near 2011 levels, but remaining below national targets. Nurses in community settings increased to constitute more than half of all nurses, whilst inpatient numbers declined, although more slowly than bed numbers. The ratio between nurses and support workers changed due to more support workers in inpatient settings. New advanced skills and roles for nurses have increased, but are unevenly distributed, constituting a small proportion of the total workforce. Implications for Practice: This paper provides a case study against which comparisons may be made with the nursing workforce in other countries and specialities. Even clear policy commitment to nursing growth may not deliver planned changes in numbers and introducing new roles may have uneven impact, especially in the absence of a robust evidence base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: A major issue facing all health systems is improving population health while at the same time responding to both growing patient numbers and needs and developing and retaining the health care workforce. One policy response to workforce shortages has been the development of advanced clinical practice roles. In the context of an English national policy promoting such roles in the health service, we explored senior managers' and senior clinicians' perceptions of factors at the organization level that support or inhibit the introduction of advanced clinical practice roles. The investigation was framed by theories of the diffusion of innovation and the system of professions. Methods: We conducted a qualitative interview study of 39 senior manager and clinicians in 19 National Health Service acute, community, mental health and ambulance organizations across a metropolitan area in 2019. Results: Small numbers of advanced clinical practice roles were reported, often in single services. Four main influences were identified in the development of advanced clinical practice roles: staff shortages (particularly of doctors in training grades) combined with rising patient demand, the desire to retain individual experienced staff, external commissioners or purchasers of services looking to shape services in line with national policy, and commissioner-funded new roles in new ambulatory care services and primary care. Three factors were reported as enabling the roles: finance for substantive posts, evidence of value of the posts, and structural support within the organization. Three factors were perceived as inhibiting developing the roles: confusion and lack of knowledge amongst clinicians and managers, the availability of finance for the roles, and a nervousness (sometimes resistance) to introducing the new roles. Conclusions: While the national policy was to promote advanced clinical practice roles, the evidence suggested there was and would continue to be limited implementation at the operational level. Development scenarios that introduced new monies for such roles reduced some of the inhibiting factors. However, where the introduction of roles required funding to move from one part of a service to another, and potentially from one staff group to another, the growth of these roles was and is likely to be contested. In such scenarios, research and business evidence of relative advantage will be important, as too will be supporters in powerful positions. The paucity of publicly available evidence on the effectiveness of advanced clinical practice roles across the specialties and professions in different contexts requires urgent attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of recent global surveys of mental health, it is known that approximately 450 million people are affected by some form of mental disorder; this amounts to 12.3 [...]

The article focuses on the role of mental health nurse academics in contributing to mental health research goals outlined for the 2020s. Topics include leveraging the expertise of mental health nurses in multidisciplinary research efforts, addressing the impact of physical health conditions on mental health, and advocating for evidence-based care in inpatient settings while filling research gaps.

Potential benefits of, and threats in, the use of technology are the stuff of day-to-day conversations and national reporting around the world. The NHS Long Term Plan predicts significantly more use of technology to support clinical practice and the field of mental health has itself seen a recent, but rapid, increase in technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental health nurses (MHNs) are by far the largest professional group in the mental health workforce and are the backbone of NHS and independent mental health services in England today. [...]

Recent developments provide mental health nurses with opportunities to improve the care of mental health service users through new ways of prescribing, supplying and administering medication. Medication is one of [...]

I have no memory of any UK-based mental health nursing research being quoted during my pre-registration training over 20 years ago. At the time I was greatly impressed by the [...]

An American perspective: mental health services in Illinois: Neil Brimblecombe recently visited services in Illinois as part of the National Mental Health Nurse Leadership programme run by the University of [...]

The National Service Framework for mental health (Doll 1999) paved the way for enormous changes in services for people with mental health problems. In addition, staff have faced many new [...]

Over the past few years considerable progress has been made in improving many aspects of mental health services in the UK, for example, in increasing the availability of community-based services [...]

In February, Chris Beasley, the Chief Nursing Officer for England, announced that a review was to take place of mental health nursing. The review seeks to answer the general question, [...]