Original study2026Read the paper →
Plans to make mental health support easier to access in Wales depend on the staff delivering it. A small survey reported by Mind Cymru suggests that many of those professionals are already struggling, with 59% of Welsh respondents reporting burnout or emotional exhaustion.
The figure appears in the charity’s Opening doors report, published in August 2026. It relates to 118 survey respondents working in Wales, not to the entire mental health workforce or a representative national sample.
The distinction matters because percentages from a voluntary survey can describe the experiences of those who answered without showing how common those experiences are among all staff. Mind Cymru explicitly warns that its Welsh sample should be treated as an indication of themes and challenges requiring further research.
Within that sample, 74% reported stress at work, 51% reported compassion fatigue, and 53% had considered leaving their current role. Compassion fatigue describes the emotional strain associated with repeatedly supporting people who are suffering.
Respondents described inadequate staffing, high caseloads, difficulties arranging discharge, and problems connecting patients with wider services. These pressures affect more than staff morale, because professionals need time and resources to provide the care people require.
Only 63% of Welsh respondents felt able to deliver the standard of care they thought service users needed always or most of the time. Some 42% said their ability to deliver that standard had somewhat or significantly worsened over the previous 12 months.
The workforce survey ran from 13 March to 7 May 2026 and included professionals from NHS services, voluntary organisations, and private practice across England and Wales. Respondents included nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, counsellors, and psychotherapists.
Questions were optional, so the number answering individual items varied. The report is not a peer-reviewed clinical study and does not establish that any one staffing problem caused burnout or that people considering leaving will actually do so.
Mind Cymru places the findings within Wales’s plans for same-day, open access mental health care. The proposed approach aims to offer support based on a person’s immediate needs without requiring them to wait for a referral before receiving help.
The charity supports that ambition but argues that services need transitional investment over three years while existing care continues. It also calls for voluntary organisations to help shape delivery and for inequalities in access and experience to be addressed.
For people seeking support, the concern is whether faster entry into services can be matched by enough capacity to provide useful care. The report argues that redesigning access cannot be separated from the conditions in which mental health professionals work.
As the model develops, clearer workforce data will be needed to assess whether pressures ease and whether staff can deliver the standard of care they want to provide. The Welsh survey offers a warning from respondents, rather than a definitive estimate of burnout across the country.
