A challenge for community psychiatric nursing: is there a future in primary health care?

The growing debate surrounding the role of the community psychiatric nurse (CPN) in the United Kingdom is reviewed. Issues which have attracted significant interest and which form the focus of this paper are the prioritization of CPN services, CPN attachment to primary health care (PHC), and the effectiveness of clinical interventions. The requirement for CPNs is now to concentrate services on people experiencing severe and enduring mental health problems. Innovative and effective clinical and social interventions for this client group are beginning to disseminate into everyday CPN practice. Problem-solving family interventions, cognitive therapies and case management are three such examples. The past, present and possible future role for CPNs working in primary health care settings with people experiencing nonpsychotic mental health problems is a particular focus in this paper. Drawing on the relevant literature, central issues addressed are the process and outcome of CPN work with nonpsychotic service users, reasons for the growth of CPN involvement in PHC, and the overall expansion of interest in mental health interventions within the primary health care environment. The literature suggests that this expansion has been strategically unplanned, but that mental health need amongst primary health care service users is significant. The concluding contention of this paper is that a future role for CPNs in primary care does exist.