Children’s mental health doctors fall to second lowest number on record
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New analysis of NHS workforce statistics by Labour shows that the
number of doctors working in Child and Adolescent psychiatry in
July 2018 was the second lowest figure recorded, in addition to a
month-on-month fall in the number of doctors in every month of 2018
so far. · The number of
doctors working in Child and Adolescent psychiatry has
fallen in every month so far since the start of 2018 ·
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New analysis of
NHS workforce statistics by Labour shows that the number of
doctors working in Child and Adolescent psychiatry in July 2018
was the second lowest figure recorded, in addition to a
month-on-month fall in the number of doctors in every month of
2018 so far.
·
The number of doctors working in Child and Adolescent
psychiatry has fallen in every month so far since
the start of 2018
·
The number recorded in July 2018, just 942 doctors, is
the second lowest on record.
· The number of doctors working in Child and
Adolescent psychiatry has remained flat since records began,
despite ever rising demand.
· Urgent investment is needed in the mental health
workforce, including investment in training and education
budgets.
Last week in the Budget the Government
announced its spending plans for mental health, as part of
the NHS funding settlement. This means spending on mental health
services remains largely the same, but with fewer doctors working
with children and young people, how this will be staffed remains
very unclear.
Barbara Keeley MP,
Labour’s Shadow Minister for Mental
Health, said:
“These figures are a severe blow to the
Government’s plans for children and young people’s mental health,
which will come to nothing unless the NHS trains and recruits
more child psychiatrists.
“Children in need of mental health services
are being turned away in their droves despite showing evidence of
self harm, while many have to wait six months for treatment
to start – all because of a shortage of key clinical
staff.
“The Government said nothing in the Budget
about its plans to recruit and train clinical staff, despite the
fact that the NHS is continuing to haemorrhage mental health
practitioners.
“Labour will increase investment in child
and adolescent mental health services and ring-fence budgets to
ensure proper staffing levels and timely access for children and
young people in need of treatment.”
Ends
Notes to
editors
·
The mental health spending announcement made as part of
the Budget last week will mean spending on mental health is
expected to stay largely the same. At the same time, the
Government announced new mental health crisis teams for children
and young people. https://www.hsj.co.uk/finance-and-efficiency/chancellor-mental-healths-share-of-nhs-spend-will-increase/7023682.article
·
Cuts to Higher Education England’s budget – the
budget for training NHS staff, mean the HEE ambition to recruit
100 more CAMHS consultants by 2021 are unlikely to be met. No new
money was announced for HEE in the Budget, and according to the
Health Foundation, there will be a £1bn reduction to the resource
budget that covers, among other things, training for the NHS
workforce. https://www.health.org.uk/budget-2018-1bn-real-terms-cut-to-wider-health-budget
·
The Royal College of Psychiatrists estimates that
the number of Child and Adolescent psychiatrists needs to
increase by almost 50% – by 463 in the next 10 years to keep up
with demand. The National Audit Office said earlier this
month: “Rising estimates of demand
may indicate that the government is even further away than it
thought.” https://www.nao.org.uk/press-release/improving-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-services/
· Analysis of NHS monthly workforce statistics shows
the total number of full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in
the Child and Adolescent psychiatry speciality for each month
since 2009. https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics
·
23,686 mental health staff left the National Health
Service between June 2017 and 31 May
2018. https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-09-07/171694/
·
The most recent data reported in Q1 2018/19 (as at the
end of June 2018) shows that there are 187,215 Whole Time
Equivalent (WTE) workforce staff in post with 22,018 vacancies.
This is a vacancy rate of 10.5% out of a total workforce
establishment (209,233 WTE) https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-09-07/171695/
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