Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to tackle the effect of NHS staffing shortages on the mental health of (a) student nurses and (b) NHS staff.

The Department continues to monitor overall staffing levels across the National Health Service (NHS), and we are working across Government to ensure there are sufficient staff to provide a high-quality service. We have committed to deliver 50,000 more nurses in the National Health Service This will help support the 1.4 million people who make up the NHS workforce and address the longstanding NHS nursing shortages that were identified in the Interim NHS People Plan. Over the last year the number of full-time equivalent nurses has gone from 282,422 to 294,553 – an increase of 12,131 nurses.

NHS England and NHS Improvement launched an emotional, psychological and practical support package for all NHS staff on 8 April 2020, accessed via the following link:

people.nhs.uk/help/