Photo: Jonathan Borba
A group of mental health academics says the workforce crisis in the sector is so significant, it must move to an apprenticeship model, where health care assistants and support workers learn on the job.
Associate Professor James Foulds, Dr Ben Beaglehole and Professor Roger Mulder from the University of Otago, have published an editorial in the Medical Journal this morning.
They say ten percent or just over 800 jobs in the mental health sector are vacant - many of them for registered nurses, and almost half the workforce is over 50 years old.
The group say its time for practical actions, not words and more inquiries, blueprints or strategy documents, and they advocate a "earn as you learn" scheme for health care assistants and support workers, to bolster numbers.
Associate Professor of Mental Health and practicising forensic psychiatrist, James Foulds, tells Kathryn that employing only clinicians with a tertiary degree is a luxury New Zealand can no longer afford.
