Nurses must adopt social care model’

Mental health nursing must move away from the medical model to an approach based more on recovery and social care, the government has been told.

Most responses to the chief nursing officer’s review of mental health nursing supported the development of better therapeutic relationships between nurses and patients.

There was overwhelming agreement that mental health nurses should provide psychological therapies and help patients access housing, benefits or leisure activities. Many nurses also said they needed better child  protection awareness.

Meanwhile, charity YoungMinds has called for school nurses to be given a wider role in preventing mental illness. Chief executive Barbara Herts said counselling could be attached to school nursing services and nurses should be able to refer children with problems.

But the Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association said there was a major shortage of school nurses.