Challenge to DH on nursing review

Mental Health Nursing,  May 2005  

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

Mental health nurses must 'own their own priorities' for development, as distinct from those determined for them by other disciplines or Government.

This is one of the key messages in an open letter to the Chief Nursing Officer for England published by a range of mental health nursing academics, practitioners, researchers and service users in Nursing Standard last month. The authors include Jean Faugier, John Cutcliffe, Liam Clarke, Chris Hart, Diane Hackney, Tony Hostick, Phil Barker and Bill Gordon.

But Chief Nursing officer Christine Beasley says the Review aims to improve the experience of service users by allowing nurses to make the most effective contribution possible in the future.

The letter questions why a review of mental health nursing as a discipline, announced earlier this year by the Department of Health, stands alone in this scrutiny.

The authors warn: 'If mental health nursing cannot envision its own professional 'direction' and negotiate its own 'clear future roles' (two of the review ambitions) then its professional status must be open to question.

'True professions develop their professional focus through intraprofessional discourse, enabled by the leadership of a College or Association. Regrettably, mental health nursing lacks the kind of authoritative and unifying professional leadership enjoyed by its colleagues from medicine, social work, psychology and occupational therapy.

They conclude by saying: 'We would caution against the presumption that the future of mental health nursing lies only in enabling the delivery of government reforms. If they are to grow as professional body, mental health nurses must own their own priorities for development, as distinct from those determined for them, by other disciplines, or Government officials.

'The 'priorities' identified by the Department may offer an important socio-political backdrop but do not reflect the caring context, which hopefully would form the central focus of any nursing review.'

Phil Barker said the authors hoped to engage MHNA and other professional organisations to see if the discipline of mental health nursing was really content to be defined by 'centralist, Politburo types' or if there was a significant number of people who actually wanted to do 'nursing'.

Christine Beasley in her reply states: 'I read with considerable interest your open letter to me. The CNO Review of Mental Health Nursing provides nurses, service users and others with a chance to contribute to the development of a strategy for mental health nursing in England. The Review aims to improve the experience of service users by allowing nurses to make the most effective contribution possible in the future.

'Before the review was announced, many mental health nurses were urging me to think about a review of mental health nursing. Since the announcement of the Review, again many nurses, at all levels, have made clear to me that this is a positive opportunity for mental health nursing to make a clear statement about its values, skills and priorities.

'The Review is intended to be wide ranging and I expect advice from the Reference Group on a range of important mental health priorities including delivering race equality, promoting social inclusion and health promotion.'

Copyright Community Psychiatric Nurses Association May 2005
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved