An update report on progress in mental health nursing education that has taken stock of progress across the country in mental health staffing levels has found that recruitment is lagging behind that of adult and children’s nursing and mental health trusts account for nearly a third of all nursing vacancies. The report has been commissioned and supported by NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network.
In train? Progress on mental health nurse education (nuffieldtrust.org.uk)
The latest community health bulletin, produced by Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust Library services, is available. If you are unable to access any of the articles in the bulletin please contact academic.library@lscft.nhs.uk.
| A Maternal Mental Health Alliance report on specialist perinatal mental health community services in the UK highlights the progress made in all four nations since 2013 but finds that access to life-saving mental health care for pregnant women and new mothers remains uneven. Many regions are still lacking the necessary resources and mental health-related deaths during pregnancy or up to six weeks after birth are increasing, emphasising the urgency of addressing this issue. The report finds this is largely due to workforce planning and shortage issues, made worse by insecure or late allocation of funds. |
A briefing by the Centre for Mental Health looks at research on, what does it look and feel like when support effectively considers people’s social and psychological wellbeing as part of mainstream assessments and care planning? and what does it look and feel like when there is good collaboration in the commissioning and planning of mental health services and support?
The latest Suicide Prevention Bulletin, produced by library staff at Mersey Care Evidence Matters library staff, is available. If you cannot access any of the articles included in the bulletin please contact academic.library@lscft.nhs.uk.
The latest dementia bulletin produced by Mersey Care Evidently Better library staff is now available. If you are unable to access of the items in the bulletin please contact academic.library@lscft.nhs.uk.
A Cochrane review has found insufficient evidence that antidepressants can be safely used for chronic pain management. The review found that although Duloxetine was consistently the highest‐ranked antidepressant with moderate‐ to high‐certainty evidence, there is currently no reliable evidence for the long‐term efficacy of any antidepressant, and no reliable evidence for the safety of antidepressants for chronic pain at any time point.
Young men with cannabis use disorder have an increased risk of developing schizophrenia, according to a study led by researchers at the Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health. The study, published in Psychological Medicine, analyzed detailed health records data over 50 years and representing more than six million people in Denmark to estimate the fraction of schizophrenia cases that could be attributed to cannabis use disorder on the population level.
The latest workforce survey by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists finds that the occupational therapy (OT) workforce is under pressure due to increased demand coupled with workforce shortages. It outlines OT concerns that this is challenging their capacity to provide essential support to people whose lives are impacted by long-term health conditions and disability. Among respondents, 68 per cent of respondents said that they were under too much pressure at work, 63 per cent stated they were too busy to provide the level of care they would like and 55 per cent felt that too much of their time was spent on non-OT duties. Over a third of respondents said they intend to leave their current role within the next two years, with work related stress, feeling undervalued, unable to provide the standard of service they would like and poor staffing levels cited as the most common reasons for this.
An interim report from IPPR’s Commission on Health and Prosperity has found the UK’s poor record on health is taking a huge toll on people’s personal finances and job prospects. The research finds that the onset of poor health precedes: a substantial fall in labour income, impacting millions of working age people; a much higher risk of leaving work, with illness implicated in more than half of employment exits between 2014 and 2019; lower job satisfaction and barriers to productive work; weaker GDP and labour market outcomes; and a more unfair and unbalanced economic model.
