Abstract

In the United Kingdom (UK), mental health nurses have worked in the community since the mid-1950s. From modest beginnings, the community mental health nursing workforce has grown dramatically in size, with just under 7,000 community mental health nurses (CMHNs) estimated to have been working in England and Wales in 1996. Mirroring this expansion in numbers, CMHNs over the years have extended the scope of their professional activities, and now work in a variety of settings with a wide range of client groups. For the benefit of a US audience, this paper commences with a review of the origins and development of the CMHN profession in the UK. Prevailing UK National Health Service policies and priorities, along with data from a recent national census of CMHNs,l are then used to provide an analysis of the context and characteristics of contemporary community mental health nursing.

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