The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has written to some of its mental health nursing members in an attempt to provide reassurance about its stance on their specialty.
The move follows controversial comments made by RCN general secretary and chief executive Professor Nicola Ranger about the future of nurse education.
“The response seems quite vague and non-committal”
Dan Warrender
In a Health and Social Care Committee hearing on 26 March, Professor Ranger said there was a need to “relook” at the current model of separating mental and physical health nurse training.
At present, there are four main fields of nursing in which undergraduate nurses in the UK can choose to train: adult, children’s, learning disabilities and mental health.
The UK is one of the few countries globally that has a dedicated pre-registration pathway directly into mental health nursing.
Professor Ranger’s comments at the Health and Social Care Committee caused concern and anger among some of its mental health nursing members.
Following publication of our article, the steering committee of the RCN Mental Health Forum asked for a meeting with the college leadership to clarify its position on the future of mental health nursing.
Professor Ranger and RCN chief nurse Lynn Woolsey met with the committee 24 hours later.
A letter sent after the meeting to the wider Mental Health Forum membership, and seen by Nursing Times, set out what had been discussed.
The letter said that the RCN was committed to achieving parity of esteem between mental and physical health.
It revealed that the RCN was working on a UK-wide review of pre- and post-registration nurse education and said the Mental Health Forum would be involved in this.
In addition, the RCN said it wanted to make sure that nurses qualifying in 2030 were able to address both physical and mental health needs in a “holistic” and “integrated” way.
However, it added that a holistic approach “does not mean shifting towards generalism” and that it recognised the “unique contributions” of mental health nursing.
The letter also said that the Mental Health Forum steering committee had been “satisfied” with the response to its concerns.
However, some mental health nurses have failed to be reassured by the letter.
Dan Warrender
Dr Dan Warrender, who is on the RCN Mental Health Forum but spoke to Nursing Times in his capacity as a leader of the Mental Health Deserves Better campaign, described the letter as “non-committal”.
He said: “The response seems quite vague and non-committal, and certainly isn’t nearly as reassuring as it could have been.
“There is no withdrawal nor clarification of the comments made, which is disappointing.”
Dr Warrender, a mental health nurse and academic, welcomed the RCN’s commitment to involving the Mental Health Forum in its education review and stressed his opposition to a general nurse training approach.
“I recognise that the UK is an outlier in the world in having a direct entry mental health nurse education, but if properly supported and developed, this can be a strength for the nation, not a deficit,” he told Nursing Times. “We should embrace and develop this rather than consider genericism.”
Nursing Times understands that there are varied views in the mental health nursing profession and that some would support reforms to the education model.
Speaking after Professor Ranger’s appearance at the Health and Social Care Committee, nursing director Dr Fiona Nolan said: “Mental health services constantly struggle to meet the physical health needs of our patients and to do this effectively we need a skilled workforce. Something needs to change.”
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