RCPsych response to HEE's Mental Health Workforce Plan

Statement / comment
31 July 2017
"I am delighted to see Health Education England’s mental health workforce plan. As medically trained doctors, psychiatrists are vital to the treatment of mental illness. You would expect to see a consultant if you had cancer and the same applies for mental health. We have worked closely with HEE to protect psychiatrists in the long-term delivery of mental health care. The 570 extra consultants promised in this strategy will be crucial to delivering the high-quality, robust mental health services of the future.

"We welcome the opportunity for more junior doctors to experience working in mental health. Allocating more medical school places to schools that put mental health at the heart of the curriculum is an ambitious way to reward progressive and positive teaching about the specialty in the medical world. The Royal College of Psychiatrists is committed to ensure the current workforce feels supported and valued and to encourage more trainees to choose psychiatry.

"The biggest challenge to creating robust mental health services is the workforce. I am very supportive of this strategy which starts to tackle that problem."

Professor Wendy Burn, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists

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