Analysis of England's incident and mental health nursing workforce data 2015-2022.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: There is a paucity of empirical data examining incidents and mental health nurses and the relationship between the two remains uncertain. Comparison of English national data for incidents and nursing workforce to examine recent trends. Descriptive analysis of two national datasets of incidents and workforce data for England between 2015 and 2022. A 46% increase in incidents was found; the leading causes are self-harm and aggressive behaviour. Despite the rise in adverse incident reporting, a 6% increase in mental health nurses was found, with more nurses in community settings than hospitals. Current services are incident reporting at greater concentrations than in previous years. Patient-related behaviour continues to be most prominently reported, rather than possible antecedent health services issues that may contribute to reporting. Whilst staffing has increased, this does not seem to have kept pace with the implied workload evident in the increase in incident reports. Greater emphasis should be placed on health service behaviour in reporting mechanisms. Self-harm and aggression should continue to be considered adverse outcomes, but causal health service factors, such as missed care, should be present in pooled reporting to help reduce the occurrence of adverse outcomes.