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Found 1,151 results
  1. Content Article
    In this webinar recording, Alex RK, a barrister, writer and educator, takes stock of the mental capacity and mental health law and policy landscape as at August 2023. It primarily focuses on England & Wales, but also includes developments in the UK and further afield, including thinking about the implications of the French language version of Article 19 CRPD providing not for ‘living independently’, but ‘autonomie de vie’.
  2. Content Article
    Patients in seclusion in mental health services require regular physical health assessments to identify, prevent and manage clinical deterioration. Sometimes it may be unsafe or counter-therapeutic for clinical staff to enter the seclusion room, making it challenging to meet local seclusion standards for physical assessments. Alternatives to standard clinical assessment models are required in such circumstances to assure high quality and safe care. The primary aim of this study was to improve the quality of physical health monitoring by making accurate vital sign measurements more frequently available. It also aimed to explore the clinical experience of integrating a technological innovation with routine clinical care. The results showed that the non-contact monitoring device enabled a 12 fold increase overall in the monitoring of physical health observations when compared to a real-world baseline rate of checks. Enhancement to standard clinical care varied according to patient movement levels. Patients, carers and staff expressed positive views towards the integration of the technological intervention.
  3. Content Article
    Preventing patients from self-harming is an ongoing challenge in acute inpatient mental health settings. New technologies that do not require continuous human visual monitoring and that maintain patient privacy may support staff in managing patient safety and intervening proactively to prevent self-harm incidents. This study in the Journal of Mental Health aimed to assess the effect of implementing a contact-free vision-based patient monitoring and management (VBPMM) system on the rate of bedroom self-harm incidents. The results showed a 44% reduction in bedroom self-harm incidents and a 48% reduction in bedroom ligatures incidents, suggesting that that the VBPMM system helped staff to reduce self-harm incidents, including ligatures, in bedrooms.
  4. Content Article
    In 2011, the government acknowledged a large treatment gap for people with mental health conditions and sought to establish ‘parity of esteem’ between mental and physical health services. From 2016, the Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England made specific commitments to improve and expand NHS-funded mental health services. NHSE, working with the Department and other national health bodies, set up and led a national improvement programme to deliver these commitments. This report by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee assesses progress made in delivering these commitments. The report acknowledges that NHS England has made progress in improving and expanding mental health services, but says this was "from a low base."
  5. News Article
    Campaigners have expressed alarm at new analysis showing a sharp increase in new or expectant mothers waiting for mental health care, with one woman found to have waited 319 days for a first appointment. More than 30,000 women who are pregnant or have newly given birth are on waiting lists for mental health support, according to NHS England data analysed by Labour, with the party saying many of them were being left to “suffer in silence”. Amid rising demand for what are known as perinatal mental health services, during the period from August 2022 to March 2023 the numbers of women waiting rose by 40%. Over that same period, the numbers who accessed support also rose, but only by 8%. Read full story Source: Guardian, 4 September 2023
  6. Content Article
    Rebecca Bauers, Interim Director for People with a Learning Disability and Autistic People, and Chris Dzikiti, Director for Mental Health, talk about CQC’s new cross-sector policy position statement on restrictive practice, what it means for providers, and what people receiving healthcare services have the right to expect. As well as sharing the new policy, they discuss what forms restrictive practices can take, and explain how the use of blanket restrictions diminishes the therapeutic power of person-centred, trauma-informed care.
  7. News Article
    After receiving more than 12,000 complaints about Australia's Victorian mental health services, the state’s regulator has not taken compliance action against a single mental healthcare provider in seven years. This is despite the royal commission into the Victorian mental health sector last year finding systemic breaches of the law and human rights across the system. Annual reports from Victoria’s mental health complaints commissioner (MHCC) showed that in the seven years since it was first established in July 2014, it received 14,160 inquiries, of which 12,470 were complaints. Yet no compliance notices were issued, despite the MHCC having regulatory powers to compel providers to improve. The MHCC is an independent body that resolves complaints about Victoria’s public mental health services and makes recommendations for improvements. The MHCC’s service provider complaint reports, obtained under freedom of information, show that some mental health services do not hand over data on the outcomes of complaints, in breach of the state’s Mental Health Act (2014). The chief executive of Mind Australia – a community-based mental health provider, Gill Callister, said it was vital people with mental health concerns, their families and carers had access to “information about the performance and approach” of the mental health services they access. “For a lot of people, a lack of transparency reinforces the view that they’re sitting at the bottom of the pile in terms of priority even when seeking information about their own care,” she said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 25 May 2022
  8. News Article
    More than 400,000 children and young people a month are being treated for mental health problems – the highest number on record – prompting warnings of an unprecedented crisis in the wellbeing of under-18s. Experts say Covid-19 has seriously exacerbated problems such as anxiety, depression and self-harm among school-age children and that the “relentless and unsustainable” ongoing rise in their need for help could overwhelm already stretched NHS services. The latest NHS figures show “open referrals” – troubled children and young people in England undergoing treatment or waiting to start care – reached 420,314 in February, the highest number since records began in 2016. The total has risen by 147,853 since February 2020, a 54% increase, and by 80,096 over the last year alone, a jump of 24%. January’s tally of 411,132 cases was the first time the figure had topped 400,000. Mental health charities welcomed the fact that an all-time high number of young people are receiving psychological support. But they fear the figures are the tip of the iceberg of the true number of people who need care, and that many more under-18s in distress are being denied help by arbitrary eligibility criteria. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 May 2022
  9. News Article
    Around 60,000 NHS staff members have post-traumatic stress after working through the Covid-19 pandemic, new research suggests. Nine out of 10 health workers say it will take them years to recover from the ordeal and one in four had lost a colleague to coronavirus, according to NHS Charities Together The charity, NHS staff and mental health experts are now calling for more support from the health service and UK government to support those struggling in the aftermath of the pandemic. “I think it’s quite clear there hasn’t been enough support to help NHS workers recover from their experiences during the pandemic. As a result, a lot of people are feeling incredibly jaded,” said Dr Ed Patrick, an NHS anaesthetist who worked in a Covid-19 intensive care unit from the beginning of the pandemic. On his experiences of working on the front lines of the health service, Dr Patrick said: “Like everyone else in the world, we lost our outlets for release. Everything was shut down and for NHS workers, our lives just became the hospital." He described the long and gruelling hours and the emotional burden of working at the height of the pandemic: “We all had an overwhelming feeling of powerlessness. There was also a deep sadness because everything you would normally do to help patients just wasn’t working. Read full story Source: The Independent, 17 May 2022
  10. News Article
    National NHS officials have proposed a major shift in the funding model for inpatient mental health beds for children and young people, information seen by HSJ reveals. A report on child and adolescent mental health services by Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT), an NHS England national programme, recommends a move away from the current ‘payment per bed day’ model to a system which funds particular outcomes or “therapeutic models”. It appears the proposal in the GIRFT recommendations seen by HSJ would apply to both NHS and independent provision, although some NHS providers are already less likely to receive funding on a ”per bed day” basis. Ananta Dave, consultant CAMHS psychiatrist at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust, told HSJ that having agreed therapy and outcome measures as recommended by the report would not only boost patient experience but also lead to better results. “One inpatient bed can actually be the equivalent of 100 young people being looked after in the community. So these are precious resources we are talking about, hence the quality of inpatient units is really important. “It should not just be a tick-box exercise that a bed exists. Instead, it is about the quality of that service. If you simply go by the number of bed days, you’re unlikely to meet your target or meet your ambition of reducing the spend on inpatient services.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 16 May 2022
  11. News Article
    Families are being ‘left without the support they need’, as overstretched services struggle to handle ‘a significant and growing minority’ of children not developing as expected. Figures published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities earlier this month show 79.6% of children who received a two-to-two-and-a-half year review with an ages and stages questionnaire during quarter three of 2021-22 met the expected level in all five areas of development measured. The five areas assessed by the screening questionnaire are communication skills, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, problem solving, and personal-social. A lower-than-expected score in any of the five areas will likely mean some sort of intervention, which may include further monitoring from health visitors or referral to a specialist service. However, health visitor numbers are declining. ber 2015. Alison Morton, Institute of Health Visiting executive director, said: “The latest national child development data highlight a worrying picture with fewer children at or above the expected level of development at two-to-two-and-a-half years. While the majority of children are developing as expected, a significant and growing minority are not. “The pandemic and its impacts are not over. In many areas, despite health visitors’ best efforts, they are now struggling to meet growing levels of need and vulnerability and a backlog of children who need support. In our survey, health visitors reported soaring rates of domestic abuse, mental health problems, child behaviour and development problems, poverty, and child safeguarding. “In addition, onward referral services like speech and language therapy, and mental health services, also have long waiting lists and families are left without the support that they need.” Read full story Source: HSJ, 16 May 2022
  12. News Article
    Hundreds of severely mentally ill prisoners in urgent need of hospital treatment are being left in prison cells due to bed shortages in secure NHS psychiatric units, an investigation has discovered. Freedom of information (FoI) responses from 22 NHS trusts reveal for the first time that just over half of the 5,403 prisoners in England assessed by prison-based psychiatrists to require hospitalisation were not transferred between 2016 and 2021 – an 81% increase on the number of prisoners denied a transfer in the previous five years. In some areas, the majority of mentally ill prisoners were not admitted, which could be the result of long delays or a trust refusing to take certain patients. Norfolk and Suffolk NHS foundation trust, which was rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission last month, only admitted 16 of 41 prisoners referred in 2021. Essex Partnership University NHS foundation trust only admitted 24 of 57 prisoners referred in 2021. Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS foundation trust only accepted 18 of the 38 prisoners referred in 2021. Peter Dawson, the director of the Prison Reform Trust, said the figures unearthed by the investigation suggested hundreds of very ill people were being denied the treatment they needed. “It is shocking that a growing number of people are not getting the transfer to hospital that clinicians say is essential for their mental health,” he said. “Instead they are languishing in often overcrowded and dilapidated prisons. It is cruel and guarantees people will leave prison in a worse state than when they came in, with every likelihood that the behaviour that originally led to their arrest and conviction will continue.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 10 May 2022
  13. News Article
    A course helping some of the most vulnerable people in the country by teaching them to be comedians is proving so successful that it is being socially prescribed by NHS trusts and private practices across the country. “I’ve taught comedy for 10 years, and students often told me how much stronger, more resilient and happier they were after exploring their personal histories through standup comedy,” said Angie Belcher, founder of Comedy on Referral and comedian-in-residence at Bristol University. “That inspired me to prove that the models, exercises and games used in a standup comedy course can help people to recover from emotional problems such as mental illness, postnatal depression, PTSD and anxiety disorders,” she said. After completing a highly successful six-week NHS course for trauma survivors in Bristol, Comedy on Referral has now won NHS funding to help men at risk of suicide in London. Belcher is also in discussions with a private practice to extend the course to young people with autism and ADHD. “My course for trauma victims encourages them to process their trauma in a different way, so they can change who the victim is and choose the narrative. They can actually go right down into ‘This is what I was thinking and then this thing happened to me’,” said Belcher. “This enables survivors to consciously use comedy to change their perspective of their experiences, but it also puts them in a physically powerful position because being on stage is very powerful,” she said. “You can speak directly to an audience about important things, which means you have the opportunity to change their lives..." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 9 May 2022
  14. News Article
    Only 53,500 staff have used a flagship NHS staff wellbeing initiative in its first year of operation, HSJ can reveal, while separate analysis finds mental health sick days have soared in the last five years. Figures obtained via Freedom of Information requests reveal the NHS’s staff mental health and wellbeing hubs, set up in February 2021 in response to covid pressures, received 53,549 contacts from NHS and social care staff between then and January 2022. It is the first time such data has been published and it comes as HSJ’s analysis of separate figures shows mental health sick days taken across acute and specialist NHS trusts have risen sharply in the past five years (see box below). The total number accessing the hubs, which is inclusive of social care staff, equates to less than 4 per cent of the NHS workforce as of January 2022. Sean Duggan, mental health chief executive at NHS Confederation, said: “Given what we know about the pandemic and the toll it has paid on NHS staff, I would have expected bigger numbers. “We need to encourage more people to come forward. To me, this number says we certainly need to sustain the hubs with funding for years to come.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 3 May 2022
  15. News Article
    An NHS mental health trust that has been the worst performing in England has been warned it must improve after failing another inspection. Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) has been rated "inadequate" in the latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) report. The CQC said it had served the trust with a warning notice that it had to act on to improve patient care. The trust has been rated "inadequate" on three previous occasions by the health watchdog, as well as being the only one currently within the NHS's improvement regime for not meeting standards. Following the latest inspection, its overall rating was downgraded from "requires improvement" - and three out of five measures assessed by the CQC, for safety, leadership and effectiveness, met its lowest grading. The report said two wards were immediately closed to new patients following a CQC visit in November, after the trust was threatened with enforcement action if urgent measures were not taken. Significant staffing problems, including an annual nurse vacancy rate of more than 17%, were also highlighted. Staff at an adult long stay ward did not complete regular checks on patients supposed to happen every 30 to 60 minutes, which meant they were unaware if somebody needed help for periods of up to seven hours. Inspectors also said there had been a severe deterioration on the trust's inpatient ward for children and young people - the Dragonfly Unit in Carlton Colville, Suffolk. They found it was reliant on agency workers and lacked a permanent doctor. Read full story Source: BBC News, 27 April 2022
  16. News Article
    Relatives of intensive care Covid patients were left traumatised by being banned from visiting their seriously ill loved ones during the pandemic, a study has found. Researchers found two-thirds of family members of patients in intensive care were still suffering high levels of symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) three months after their relative was admitted. Symptoms of PTSD include flashbacks, nightmares and physical sensations such as pain, sweating, feeling sick or trembling. Before the Covid pandemic, symptoms of PTSD in family members of intensive care patients were between 15 and 30 per cent, depending on the condition. The team from the University of Colorado School of Medicine said visitation restrictions may have inadvertently generated a secondary public health crisis of stress-related disorders in family members of Covid patients. At the height of the pandemic, hospitals across Britain restricted access to patients, with many people forced to say goodbye to dying loved ones over Skype, or behind screens or windows. Even as late as last winter, a Telegraph investigation showed that a quarter of trusts were still imposing restrictions on visitors. The findings suggest that the rates of PTSD may be higher in relatives than in patients. A previous study by Imperial College and the University of Southampton found that only one-third of patients on ventilators suffer symptoms. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 25 April 2022
  17. News Article
    Health Secretary Sajid Javid is to review what immediate changes can be made to gender treatment services for children in England. This could include changing the law to let the independent Cass review have access to an NHS database of young people who already received treatment. It comes ahead of the review's report, due later this year. This week Mr Javid told MPs services in this area were too affirmative and narrow, and "bordering on ideological". He is now thought to be planning an overhaul of the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), which is run by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, with clinics in London and Leeds. The trust has defended itself, saying while there is a need for change, doctors already take into account the wider physical and mental health of children who are referred there. The health secretary has been considering changing the law to allow a review of GIDS being led Dr Hilary Cass, former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, to access a database of children who were treated by GIDS to see if any later regretted having treatments, such as puberty blockers. It is unclear how the process of giving access to the information would work. Read full story Source: BBC News, 24 April 2022
  18. News Article
    A survey looking at the effect of body image on physical and mental health has been launched by MPs in England. It also asks whether people have used the NHS to deal with body image issues and how successful services have been. The Health and Social Care Committee will use the survey as part of its ongoing inquiry into the impact of body image. The committee will hold another parliamentary evidence session on Tuesday. This session will hear from doctors, researchers and people with Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Questions in the survey cover a range of topics, including whether thoughts and feelings on body image negatively impact quality of life, and which aspects of life are affected the most. Jeremy Hunt, chairman of the Health and Social Care Committee, said: "Worries about body image can become enormously distressing, particularly for young people. "To support our inquiry into body image, we're asking people to take part in a survey about how concerns about body image can affect their physical and mental health," he added. "We want to hear about their experiences of accessing NHS services in relation to body image, whether people know where to go to get help, and whether they feel any stigma in seeking support for health issues relating to body image." Read full story Source: BBC News, 25 April 2022
  19. News Article
    "I thought she would be safe at Chadwick Lodge,” said Natasha Darbon, recalling how she felt in April 2019 when her 19-year-old daughter, Brooke Martin, was admitted to the mental health hospital in Milton Keynes. Eight weeks later, Brooke took her own life. The jury at the inquest found that Brooke’s death could have been prevented and that the private healthcare provider Elysium Healthcare, which ran the hospital, did not properly manage her risk of suicide. It also found that serious failures of risk assessment, communication and the setting of observation levels contributed to her death. Elysium accepted that had she been placed on 24-hour observations, Brooke would not have died. In 2018, Brooke, who was autistic, was repeatedly sectioned under the Mental Health Act because of her escalating self-harm and suicide attempts. After a spell in an NHS facility in Surrey she moved to Chadwick Lodge, which specialises in treating personality disorders. After a few weeks there, Brooke was doing well and staff were pleased with her progress. She was due to move to Hope House, a separate unit at the hospital, to start more specialist therapy for emotionally unstable personality disorder, and was keen to make the switch. But then the teenager’s mental health deteriorated again. On 5 June 2019 she tried to kill herself. Five days later she was seen twice that evening secretly handling potential ligatures, but no appropriate action was taken. A few minutes later she was found unresponsive in her room. She received CPR but died the next day in Milton Keynes university hospital. After hearing the evidence about the care Brooke received in her final days, Tom Osborne, the coroner at the inquest, took the unusual step of issuing a prevention of future deaths notice. He sent it to Sajid Javid, the health secretary, and to Elysium Healthcare, as the owner of Chadwick Lodge. It set out the detailed criticisms that the jury had made of Elysium’s interaction with Brooke after her attempt to take her own life on 5 June. They cited the hospital’s failures to communicate information regarding Brooke’s suicide attempt, to search her room after she was found handling potential ligatures on the night she died, and to place Brooke on constant observations afterwards. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 24 April 2022
  20. News Article
    A father whose son took his own life in July 2020 is calling for an "urgent overhaul" of the way some counsellors and therapists assess suicide risk. His son Tom had died a day after being judged "low risk", in a final counselling session, Philip Pirie said. A group of charities has written to the health secretary, saying the use of a checklist-type questionnaire to predict suicide risk is "fundamentally flawed". The government says it is now drawing up a new suicide-prevention strategy. According to the latest official data, 6,211 people in the UK killed themselves in 2020. It is the most common cause of death in 20-34-year-olds. And of the 17 people each day, on average, who kill themselves, five are in touch with mental health services and four of those five are assessed as "low" or "no risk", campaigners say. Tom Pirie, a young teacher from Fulham, west London, had been receiving help for mental-health issues. He had repeatedly told counsellors about his suicidal thoughts - but the day before he had killed himself, a psychotherapist had judged him low risk, his father said. Tom's assessment had been based on "inadequate" questionnaires widely used despite guidelines saying they should not be to predict suicidal behaviour, Philip said. The checklists, which differ depending on the clinicians and NHS trusts involved, typically ask patients questions about their mental health, such as "Do you have suicidal thoughts?" or "Do you have suicidal intentions?" At the end of the session, a score can be generated - placing the individual at low, medium or high risk of suicide, or rating the danger on a scale between 1 and 10. Read full story Source: BBC News, 20 April 2022
  21. News Article
    The chief executive of a mental health trust grappling with care quality failures has described his anger at ‘disrespectful’ staff who have ‘now had to leave the organisation’. In a message to staff, seen by HSJ, Brent Kilmurray, chief executive of Tees Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation Trust, said a number of staff had “stepped away from our values”. HSJ has heard reports of 12 staff members within the trust’s forensic secure inpatient services being suspended in recent weeks, and some dismissed, after being caught sleeping on shifts and using electronic devices while meant to be observing patients. The reports are unconfirmed, but appear to be referenced in a message sent by Brent Kilmurray on 14 March, which said: “I’m sorry to say, there’s been a handful of people who have stepped away from our values and in doing so have now had to leave the organisation." Mr Kilmurray said the staff were in a “minority” and that when the trust investigated these matters “we have found far more excellent caring practice”. He added the trust is working with service leaders “to ensure that they understand their accountabilities for ensuring that services are safe”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 14 April 2022
  22. News Article
    In an ongoing effort to improve care and support for elderly women and women’s health satisfaction and outcomes in general, the government have published their report summarising written responses from 436 organisations and experts from the Women’s Health Strategy call for evidence. The organisations that contributed to the report included participants from the charity sector, academia, professional bodies, clinicians, royal colleges and other general experts in women’s health. The topics highlighted in the report include: Menstrual health and gynaecological conditions, including the impact of premenstrual syndrome on someone’s quality of life. Fertility, pregnancy, pregnancy loss and maternal health, including women not feeling listened to during and after pregnancy and the provision of bereavement support services. Menopause, including suggestions for improvements in training and guidelines for healthcare professionals. Gynaecological and other cancers, including barriers to accessing high-quality, up to date information on risk factors for female cancers. Mental health, including its interaction with other health conditions across women’s life course. Healthy ageing, including the need to increase focus on the health needs of older women and emphasise women may experience the same conditions as men in different ways. Violence against women and girls, including the complications associated with hymenoplasty and barriers to accessing healthcare support for those who’ve been subject to years of violence and abuse. Minister for Women’s Health Maria Caulfield said: “For generations, women have lived in a healthcare system primarily designed by men, for men. We are committed to tackling the gender health gap, and the publication of our strategy later this year will mark a significant step forward.” She added: “I want to thank the expert individuals and organisations who took the time to respond to our call for evidence. The insights you have provided have been stark and sobering but will be pivotal to ensuring our strategy represents the first-hand experiences of the health care system.” Read full story Source: NHE, 13 April 2022
  23. News Article
    Tens of thousands of women in the UK may be experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after miscarriages each year, a leading researcher warns. Prof Tom Bourne estimates the number affected could run to 45,000 annually. But he says most are not given prompt psychological support that could help prevent PTSD developing. The Miscarriage Association says there is an urgent need for better access to talking and other psychological therapies for those affected. At present, most women have to ask for help themselves rather than support being in place. Prof Bourne believes there needs to be more research into other ways of helping people experiencing loss. His team is trying out a variety of new approaches - including virtual reality - to help address the issue. One idea his team is experimenting with is offering women virtual reality headsets during miscarriage procedures. It builds on previous work that shows VR headsets can help reduce pain during some medical procedures. Researcher Dr Nina Parker says the aim is "to transport them to sort of a more calm, virtual reality world for distraction from the pain and anxiety during the procedure". She adds: "There is nothing that we are ever going to be able to do that takes away from the loss and the trauma of losing pregnancy and having a miscarriage. "But if we can do everything that we can to minimise any additional trauma we might be adding to in the interactions that are had within the hospital, then we are obligated to do that." Read full story Source: BBC News, 8 April 2022
  24. News Article
    Children are having to wait up to five years for an NHS autism appointment, according to figures obtained by the Observer that lay bare the crisis in children’s mental health services. Figures acquired under the Freedom of Information Act show that 2,835 autistic children referrals at Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust have still not had a first appointment an average of 88 weeks after being referred. The longest wait at the time the response was sent in January stood at 251 weeks – nearly five years. Meanwhile, 1,250 children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) referrals at the trust have yet to have a first appointment, having waited an average of 46 weeks – and 195 weeks in the worst case. Across 20 NHS trusts that provided figures, children with outstanding autism referrals have waited nearly six months on average for their first appointment. Cathy Pyle’s daughter, Eva, spent 20 months waiting for an autism assessment from her local NHS child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in Surrey, having already had to wait 11 months for a mental health assessment after she became increasingly distressed during her first year of secondary school, culminating in self-harm. “The sensory aspects of her autism are really significant,” Pyle told the Observer. “So she found the crowding in the corridors, the jostling, being pushed and shoved – she found the noises really, really unbearable.” Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP, Labour’s shadow cabinet minister for mental health, said: “The NHS does an incredible job with the resources that it has, however, long waits for treatment have a considerable impact on patients and families. It’s unacceptable that a six-month wait has become the standard for autism referrals, with many others waiting years to be seen, on the Conservatives’ watch. Waiting so long for treatment will have a detrimental impact on a child’s development.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 4 April 2022
  25. News Article
    Burnout is not a strong enough term to describe the severe mental distress nurses and other NHS staff are experiencing, says a doctor who has led efforts to improve care for health professionals. Medical director of the NHS Practitioner Health service Dame Clare Gerada told MPs radical action was needed to improve the mental well-being of NHS staff. She said nurses and other healthcare staff should be entitled to one hour of paid reflective time per month to be written into NHS employees’ contracts, alongside mentoring, careers advice and leadership training built in throughout people’s careers. Dr Gerada was among senior clinicians who gave evidence this week to the Health and Social Care Committee, which is looking at issues around recruitment and retention of staff. She told the committee the term ‘burnout’ simply did not cover the level of stress and mental anguish experienced by NHS workers. ‘Burnout is too gentle a term for the mental distress that is going on amongst our workforce,’ she said. High suicide rates among nurses and doctors, high levels of bullying and staff being sacked because they have long-COVID are all signs the health service is failing to look after its employees, she said. ‘The symptoms we have got are the symptoms of an organisation that is unable to care for its workforce in the way that it should be caring,’ she said. Read full story Source: Nursing Standard, 25 March 2022
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