The overall number of nurses in general practice and other healthcare settings in England has increased by 10,213 – but numbers have fallen in other roles such as mental health community nurses and health visitors, data released by NHS digital has revealed.
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The data reveals that the number of nurses across England has seen an overall increase year on year. From May 2021 to May this year, the most recent month from which data is available, there are 10,213 more nurses. This 3.2% increase brings the total number to 330,326.
However, the boost to numbers was not evenly spread across the whole workforce, and there were even significant losses in some key areas.
For example, even though there was a slight increase in the total number of mental health nurses, the number of community nurses fell.
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Numbers of first-level community mental health nurses, who have completed a three year course and received a degree in nursing, fell by 435, a 15% decrease. Likewise, numbers of second-level community mental health nurse, who have completed a two-year training course, declined by 35%. There was also a 549 nurse fall in ‘other 1st level mental health nurses’.
Health visitors, who were not included in the Department of Health and Social Care’s calculations of the 10,213 total increase, declined by 7% with a loss of 443.
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It added: ‘Workforce targets do not seem to be linked to service demand, and until they are, there will only ever be a limited impact on patients and people in receipt of care.’
