Call for national guidance to equip mental health nurses for digital

Mental health nursing students are coming out of universities lacking even basic digital skills, said speakers at Digital Health Rewired 25.

Nina Phoenix, chief nursing and AHP information officer and lead digital champion at Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust, said that the widespread assumption that new entrants to the profession will have picked up digital skills during the Covid-19 pandemic was incorrect.

“They are expected to absorb [digital skills] by osmosis – but it’s not taught,” Phoenix said, adding that some students do not know how to get onto a Teams meeting.

Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust is working with local universities to address the issue, but Phoenix said national guidance was also needed.

Other speakers in the session on ‘How digital can support mental health nursing’ session on 18 March 2025, echoed Phoenix’s concerns about the lack of digital training for the workforce.

Joanne Hillier, chief clinical information officer at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust said: “Patient record systems are complex beasts.

“We need to accept we need to train people, so they understand where data goes and how to pull it out.”

Phoenix added there was a particular problem with staff failing to grasp “the power of data”.

“Understanding population data is really important, and that’s missing in universities,” she said.

The speakers agreed that there is a need to tailor training for different staff groups and consider the specifics of how people use digital technology.

Managers and clinicians use electronic patient records (EPRs) in different ways, pointed out Phoenix.

She added that surveying staff on their experience of using technology could open the door to “targeted training”.

Speaking about the results of a staff survey at Kent and Medway, Phoenix said: “We already knew our consultants were not very good at recording diagnosis.

“The consultants did not feel confident about putting that in the EPR.”

Claire Hursell, director of digital and performance at Kent and Medway, said:  “The systems we use are complex.

“If you get the skills up, we can get the techno stress down.”

Phoenix added: “On a daily basis our staff could use 24 plus different systems, and our EPR is only one of those systems.

“They are expected to not only look after the mental health of patients but log in and navigate these systems, which is really complicated.”

Meanwhile, a leaked copy of the delayed Phillips Ives Review, seen by the Nursing Times in June 2024, warned of a “severe shortage” of digital nurse specialists, which could hinder ambition to drive the healthcare system forward with technology.

The report called for greater investment in the digital specialist workforce and more digital training for nurses and midwives.