South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust (SWLSGT) will appoint a substantial number of new nursing staff as part of a £2.1 million investment in patient care.

The Trust is creating the posts following a comprehensive internal review of inpatient nursing services, which found the majority of staff highlighted greater investment in nursing staff numbers as the way to ensure the best possible quality of care to service users.

David Bradley, chief executive of SWLSGT, said: “Following a comprehensive review of all our inpatient nursing services we decided to invest an additional £2.1 million into the nursing workforce across all inpatient services this year and on an on-going basis.” 

This investment is set to increase the numbers of permanent staff on duty and of qualified nurses on wards and will mean SWLSGT has one of the best ratios of staff to patients and qualified to unqualified staff across London Mental Health Trusts.

Andrew Dean, SWLSGT’s director of nursing, said: "I am absolutely delighted that the board has supported the proposal to invest in providing these additional nursing posts."

Recruitment for the new posts has already started.