Mental health nurses urged to give their views on work conditions
Posted 13 November 2023 - 09:00
A survey will uncover why there are high levels of mental health nursing vacancies with researchers hoping to spur initiatives to improve nurses’ working lives
Mental health nurses are being urged to have their say on job satisfaction, well-being, burnout and care quality in a new survey.
Survey results will inform retention initiatives
Led by University of Southampton professor of nursing workforce policy Jane Ball, the survey aims to address national workforce challenges and seeks mental health nurses’ views on factors that affect their day-to-day job.
Researchers hope the findings will lead to local and national action being taken to improve nurses’ working lives, leading to better well-being and retention in the field.
Professor Ball told Nursing Standard: ‘We want to understand how much variation there is in the way different mental health staffing teams are made up as well as in their workload, the different pressures that mental health nurses describe and what they see as a possible solution.
‘What would improve their well-being and make the biggest difference to job satisfaction? It is hard to know if the problem with the lack of nurses creates other issues or whether some problems make it a challenging environment for these nurses to stay in.
‘It’s important for us to understand why vacancy levels are typically higher in mental health trusts than in other services and what is it we can do to turn them into places that allow skilled professionals to flourish and want to stay there.’
Latest data show there were more than 10,700 mental health nursing vacancies in the NHS in England as of June 2023. This is 25% of the total 43,339 nursing vacancies in the country.
More attention should be paid to mental health nurses’ well-being, says lead researcher
The 2022 NHS staff survey showed 49% of mental health nurses felt unwell because of work-related stress in the last 12 months and 45% reported often or always finding their work emotionally exhausting.
Professor Ball added: ‘Little attention has been paid to the working lives and well-being of nurses providing mental health care, despite it being a national priority. There is a growing demand for mental health services, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic and wider nursing shortages. Nurses are crucial to meeting this demand.
‘It can be hard enough for policy makers to explain the value of nursing in any field. But there can be a particular lack of insight into the value of a mental health nurse because the interventions are less visible and tangible.’
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