The AMHP Workforce Review for 2019

Skills for Care have recently (November 2019) published the annual statistics relating to the AMHP workforce. This is the second year that statistics on the AMHP workforce have been published. I wrote about the first year's statistics here.

Whereas the statistics from 2018 were based on a 92% response rate from local authorities, 2019's statistics are based on a near perfect 99% response rate, so reflect even more accurately the current state of play with AMHP across England (it does not cover Welsh AMHP's I'm afraid).

This shows that there are currently approximately 3,730 AMHPs. The previous year there were 3,900, which indicates a decrease of 4%. This is in the face of every increasing demands on AMHPs to undertake assessments under the MHA.

80% of all AMHPs are directly employed by a local authority. Of the rest,16% are employed by the NHS (but not necessarily nurses) and 4% are agency or freelance.

I find the last statistic interesting, as I, and the Masked AMHP Facebook Group, regularly get enquiries from professionals wishing to become freelance AMHPs and encountering difficulties. The main problems for freelancers are obtaining places on qualifying training courses, obtaining opportunities for work placements, and then finding a local authority prepared to formally approve them.

Very few AMHP courses accept self funding candidates, although the University of East Anglia has been one.

In 2018 95% of AMHPs were qualified social workers. In 2019 this figure was 94%, with the remainders consisting of 5% nurses, less than 1% being occupational therapists, and a single clinical psychologist, despite all these occupations being eligible to train and practice as AMHPs.

I do think this is a shame, as from my own experience being involved with the training of AMHPs since the creation of the role in the MHA 2007, I have found nurses and OTs are well able to take on the social perspective necessary to practice as an AMHP, and their professional backgrounds make a valuable contribution to the overall AMHP workforce. I would like to see NHS MH Trusts allowing more nurses and other eligible professions to undertake the training.

The current survey estimates that 32% of AMHPs are aged 55 or more. The previous year, it was 30%. This implies that overall, if only slightly, the population of AMHPs is aging. This continues to be of concern, as more AMHPs reach retirement age, but are perhaps not being replaced. The survey notes that " this group may retire within the next ten years."

It goes on to say:

There were notably fewer qualified AMHPs under 40 compared to social workers. The average age of a social work graduate was 31 in 2017/18 3, which indicates that social workers may progress to becoming an AMHP later in their career.

(I confess here that I am now approaching 66 years of age, and though still warranted as an AMHP, I officially retired in October 2019, when I reached State retirement age. I still have a zero hours contract with my local authority, but while I was previously, on a semi retired basis, working for my local authority in the AMHP service two days a week, I now officially only have to undertake 3 MHA assessments a year to retain my AMHP approval. How many others are in the same position, or approaching it, and are they being replaced?)

For social workers considering undertaking the AMHP role, the survey provides data on current salaries. The average salary for an AMHP is £38,100 per annum.

I will conclude this brief review with a statement from the foreword:

We know that detention rates are increasing and AMHPs are dealing with increased challenges in local systems as they support people and fulfil their roles. This highly trained and skilled workforce has had to adapt to the changing contexts as the prevalence of mental ill health episodes are still increasing. AMHPs are core to the application of the Mental Health Act bringing independence and scrutiny to enable the best outcomes, striving to develop options within the persons home and community rather than hospital.

Even as I slowly withdraw from the active AMHP workforce, I would endorse the sentiment that AMHPs work hard to find alternatives to hospital admission, and hope that the challenges of the role will encourage professionals to take on the AMHP role, rather than deterring them from it.