Baroness Hollins
Main Page: Baroness Hollins (Crossbench - Life peer)
Lord Bethell
The Government recognise the issue with recruitment, in particular at the higher, consultant end, where it takes 14 years to train a consultant. There is undoubtedly an issue with filling all those places. The work of the noble Baroness on eating disorders is well known and the Government are very focused on that issue; in fact, we announced in 2014 that we would invest £150 million to expand community-based care for children and young people with eating disorders. Recruitment remains an issue that concerns us and we are focused on responding to it.
Baroness Hollins (CB)
My Lords, in 2011, 70% of foundation doctors went on to specialty training, but in 2018 the figure was 40%. Does the Minister agree that in psychiatry, this may have something to do with concerns about working conditions, lack of support from specialist nurses and personal safety? I heard just last week of a young doctor who went to work in the evening wearing a stab vest because another trainee had been stabbed while on duty as a psychiatrist the previous week.
Lord Bethell
The noble Baroness is quite correct to suggest that the issues of psychiatry recruitment are complex. They are not simply a matter of funding; the Government have put a large amount of money behind mental health. It is not just a question of places—a large number of vacancies are available in psychiatry; it is one of the employer brand. The employer brand around psychiatry is not where we would like it to be, and safety is a difficult and challenging issue to address. We are focused on that. The campaign by the Royal College of Psychiatry addresses this very issue, and we will continue to work on it.