Barbara Keeley MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Mental Health, commenting on Health Education England’s Mental Health Workforce Strategy, said: 

“Once again this Tory Government is promising only jam tomorrow, when what is needed is action today to tackle the staffing crisis in mental health. The workforce plan provides no real answers on how these new posts will be funded or how recruitment issues will be overcome. And it offers little hope to those working in the sector faced with mounting workloads, low pay and poor morale.

“Time and again the Tories have been warned that severe staffing shortages are affecting patient care. Only this month the Care Quality Commission highlighted staffing levels, in particular the cuts to mental health nurses, as a contributing factor to 40 per cent of mental health services now failing on safety grounds. 

“A Labour Government will provide the investment needed to recruit and train staff with the right skills to deliver the mental health services patients need and deserve. We will legislate for safe staffing, reinstate nurse bursaries, lift the one per cent pay cap for NHS staff and ring-fence mental health funding to make sure it reaches the frontline.”