The UK Government has announced that it has recruited 8,500 additional mental health workers in the NHS in England since the end of June 2024.
Responding to the announcement, Dr Lade Smith CBE, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said:
“We are pleased the UK Government has met its mental health workforce target, but in reality, it falls far short of the number of staff services actually need.
“More than a quarter of consultant psychiatrist posts are vacant or filled by temporary staff in England alone. These shortages contribute to longer waiting times and patients becoming more unwell before they receive the care and treatment they urgently need. It is disappointing that the scale of this crisis hasn’t been truly acknowledged or addressed.
"The Government must re-affirm commitments to double medical school places, issue forecasts for the growth of the psychiatric workforce and take action to address medical training bottlenecks. It is also vital that measures are put in place to keep people in the workforce who are currently struggling to manage overwhelming caseloads and experiencing significant burnout as a result.
“The upcoming workforce plan for England represents the perfect opportunity to introduce these measures and ensure the NHS can recruit, develop and retain the best mental healthcare professionals available.”
For further information, please contact:
- Email: press@rcpsych.ac.uk
- Twitter: @rcpsych
- Out-of-hours contact number: 07860 755896