Mental Health Services: Recruitment
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Key target hit with 8,500 extra mental health workers in the NHS, published on 30 April 2026, how many of the additional mental health workers recruited since the end of June 2024 were (a) psychiatrists, (b) nurses, (c) therapists and (d) support staff.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, the Government has delivered on its commitment to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers by the end of this Parliament, three years ahead of schedule.
These new staff include over 1,200 new doctors, over 4,500 new nurses, and a range of other support staff, primarily psychological professions, which will help to ease pressure on busy mental health services.
The following table shows a breakdown of the additional mental health workforce recruited since 30 June 2024:
Mental health workforce change (full-time equivalents) between June 2024 and February 2026 | |
All staff groups | +8,716 |
Hospital and Community Health Services doctors | +1,235 |
Nurses and health visitors | +4,584 |
Scientific, therapeutic and technical staff | +2,636 |
Support to doctors, nurses and midwives | - 1,179 |
Support to ambulance staff | -7 |
Support to scientific, therapeutic and technical staff | 1,608 |
Senior managers | -16 |
Central functions | - 118 |
Other* | +14 |
* Includes ambulance staff, midwives and hotel property and estates staff.
Further detail is available in National Health Service workforce statistics, published monthly by NHS England, available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics
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