The future for mental health nursing.

In February 1998 200 mental health nurses attended the RCN third European Mental Health Nursing Conference in Belfast. This paper reports on a delegate questionnaire concerning issues of resourcing, personal safety, skill mix and commissioning. The findings indicate that mental health nurses remain under threat from physical assault. However, the link between human resourcing, skill mix and threatening behaviour appears not to be one which practising nurses associate with their work area. Not surprisingly, there was a definite perception that purchasers of current services have no real understanding of the needs of service users or providers.