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NAME CHANGE TO REFLECT NEW ROLE OF MENTAL HEALTH NURSING
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The 2,700-strong Community Psychiatric Nurses Association is set to change its name as part of a bid to shake-off the ‘Cinderella’ image of mental health nursing and to more accurately reflect the expanding horizons of the profession.
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CPNA members will vote on whether to adopt the title of the Mental Health Nursing Association at their annual conference in Bournemouth next month.
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The CPNA chair, Sharon Duncan said: ‘The "community mental nursing" tag is too narrow a description of the broad spectrum of roles that our increasing membership carry out on a daily basis. We must embrace a more ‘inclusive’ agenda that accurately mirrors the work of the membership.’
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Governments over the last 30 years have paid lip service to the importance of mental health, but in reality little has been done to provide a cohesive approach in terms of nurse resourcing and training. Mental health nurses have for far too long been viewed as a Cinderella profession.’
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The new association will act as a catalyst for much needed change and will be a focus for future mental health nursing developments and practice. We should no longer be the poor relations of nursing
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The new name will be truly reflective of the changes in the profession. Increasing membership has meant that our organisation is no longer solely community-based, but that our members work in a variety of settings, and this needs to be acknowledged in our name.’
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‘The diversity of training needs for the mental health nurse have long been accepted by the profession and this will be recognised by the name change.’
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