21,000 mental care jobs

JEREMY Hunt has promised to hire an extra 21,000 mental healthcare workers over the next three years including doctors, nurses and therapists.

The Health Secretary’s recruitment drive will involve attracting graduates into traditionally unpopular posts as well as persuading doctors and nurses who have left the health service to return.

But figures last week showed that the health service tried to fill more than 6,000 vacant posts in the first three months of the year, a third of which were for nurses.

The 21,000 anticipated new workers will include 2,000 nurses, psychiatrists and therapists specialising in child and adolescent mental health services.

There will also be 4,600 nurses for crisis care and 2,900 counsellors.

Mr Hunt said: ‘These measures are ambitious, but essential for delivering the high-performing and well-resourced mental health services we all want to see.’ But Janet Davies, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said that the report was ‘unable to provide detail on how the ambitions will be met’.