Attracting more people into mental health nurse education
This new report from the Nuffield Trust identifies how to attract more people into mental health nurse education.
This report was commissioned by NHS Employers and the Mental Health Network. It explores how we can attract more people, from a broad range of backgrounds, to study mental health nursing.
The report, Laying Foundations: Attitudes and access to mental health nurse education provides recommendations span the health and care and educational systems and are relevant to a number of regional partnerships and local bodies involved in the training and recruitment of our mental health nursing workforce.
The recommendations in the report include:
- To ensure a more accurate and realistic image of the mental health nursing role, career options, work settings and the people mental health nurses care for.
- To make investment to improve the societal status of mental health nursing and challenge stereotypes of the role.
- To provide access to positive personal experiences and exposure to mental health services and staff, including sharing good practice through education and work experience.
- For universities to promote a better understanding of the support and requirements for studying to become a mental health nurse.
- To urgently improve communication of the level and purpose of cost of living grants across different settings and make sure there is a full range of routes into mental health nursing.
