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Mental health nurses 'need looking after', says service user

Mental health nurses need support so they can care for patients, service user says.
marsha mcadam

Mental health nurses need support so they can care for patients, service user says

marsha mcadam
Marsha McAdam addresses the Mental Health Practice conference. Picture: Neil O’Connor

Mental health nurses need support so they can care for patients, a service user told the Mental Health Practice conference.

Marsha McAdam said she was dismayed that nurses were having to resort to food banks due to the ongoing pay cap.

She also told the conference in Manchester last week that nurses working in the specialty needed support for their own mental health needs to ensure they are healthy for patients.

‘If nurses are sick they can’t take care of me. That (care for nurses) is not happening, and that’s a really big concern for me,’ said Ms McAdam, who is a member of a number of groups advising on physical and mental health issues from a patient perspective.

Sad about bursaries, food banks

She added that the scrapping of the bursary for nursing students in England from later this year had saddened her.

‘I’m also sad that nurses have to use food banks. How do we encourage people into nursing with all that’s going on?’

Ms McAdam, who has a number of l health problems, also spoke of the benefits of mentalisation-based therapy which she received, which she said had helped her with empathy.

She said she had not self-harmed for four years now and felt ‘lucky to be alive’.

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