21,000 new mental health staff will deliver ‘revolution’ for NHS

THE NHS is to recruit 21,000 new mental health staff as part of plans to deliver Theresa May’s “revolution” in the sector, the Government has announced.

Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, will today outline steps to redress the “historic imbalance” between physical and mental health, with round-the-clock, integrated psychiatric services.

The Government hopes to lure back some of the 4,000 psychiatrists and 30,000 mental health nurses who have left the sector within the NHS, and to encourage trainee doctors to specialise in psychiatric medicine.

Health leaders voiced their approval, but raised concerns about how quickly staff could be recruited and the low morale of existing NHS mental health workers.

“We want people with mental health conditions to receive better treatment, and part of that means having the right NHS staff,” said Mr Hunt. “We know we need to do much more to at- tract, retain and support the mental health workforce of the future.”

The new positions will be funded from a £1 billion package for mental health up to 2020 announced by David Cameron last year. It follows a campaign to encourage a more open national conversation about mental health. Members of the Royal family spearheaded the Heads Together campaign and spoke frankly about their own mental health.