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Crisis resolution and assertive outreach teams are finding it difficult to recruit social workers, a report from the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health and the National Institute for Mental Health in England has found.

The report, which looks at 10 teams across England, discovered that some were having problems with recruitment because of the "historically poor relationship between health and social services".

Unlike nurses, who are used to working shifts, social workers are not attracted to jobs involving working out of hours and dealing with difficult people, the report says. Social workers may also be unwilling to work in multi-disciplinary teams where they are a minority.

The report recommends outreach and crisis resolution teams develop "innovative" salary packages and reduce the entry criteria for posts.

The National Service Framework for Mental Health sets a national target to develop mental health services that are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A total of 335 crisis resolution teams have to be set up by the end of this year and 240 assertive outreach teams had to be up and running by April last year.


Angela Greatley, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health acting chief executive, said: "Assertive outreach and crisis resolution teams offer new ways of supporting people experiencing major mental health problems. But this change can only be achieved if they are implemented in full, over a realistic period of time, with the resources necessary for the job."

- Transforming Mental Health Care from 020 7827 8352.