The distribution of community psychiatric nurses in England: are they where they should be?
Given the substantial increase in the numbers of community psychiatric nurses (CPNs) in England in the last 15 years this paper asks the question: is CPN activity where it should be? In-other words is activity distributed around the country according to need? Various indicators of need are suggested including population age structure, deprivation indices and suicide rates. We find no evidence -- based on information from scatterplots, Spearman correlations and more innovative measures of inequality -- that CPNs are distributed according to need. If this is confirmed by further research it is cause for alarm -- CPNs should be where they are most needed.
Buck
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D
Department of Dental Public Health and Oral Health Services Research, United Medical and Dental Schools, University of London.
Smith
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K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D003152:Community Health Nursing; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing; D006113:United Kingdom; D000078329:Workforce