Nursing MPs: Sojan Joseph reflects on making history in Kent
A senior nurse, who made history with his surprise election to parliament, has said he entered politics after becoming frustrated with the slow pace of improvement to mental health services.
Sojan Joseph, a mental health nurse of more than 20 years, overturned a more than 20,000-strong majority to become the first non-Conservative Party MP elected in his constituency of Ashford, Kent, since 1929, and only the second since the seat’s creation in 1885.
“We need to train more local staff and retain them”
Sojan Joseph
Born, raised and trained as a nurse in the southern Indian state of Kerala – which exports large numbers of nursing staff to the UK and elsewhere each year – Mr Joseph also became the first Malayali person to be elected to British parliament.
Like 334 others, Mr Joseph’s election on 4 July was his first entry to parliament.
After his arrival into the NHS 22 years ago, Mr Joseph worked his way up through the ranks; his most recent role was head of nursing for community mental health services at Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust.
Mr Joseph entered politics in 2023, when he was elected as a local councillor for Ashford Borough Council, a decision he said he made because of “frustration” at how things in his local area were not improving.
He said, even as a senior nursing leader, he felt unable to influence change in mental health and its many connected issues.
“There is a clear link between mental health, the benefits system, drugs and alcohol, community [issues], childcare issues,” Mr Joseph told Nursing Times.
“[Being a nurse] has helped prepare me [and] given me better understanding of people’s issues.”
Read more from the nursing MP interview series
Mr Joseph said demand for mental health services had outgrown capacity, with a lack of staff and beds.
However, he added: “Pressure within the system is not just in mental health; in [Ashford], A&E is overcrowded, people are cared for in the corridors because there’s no beds and when you look into it, it’s the ripple effect of people not able to move on into the community.”
The new Ashford MP confessed his surprise at having won the traditionally Conservative-voting seat for Labour, but said that not long into the campaign period it was “clear” that locals were seeking change.
Speaking to Nursing Times during his first week in office, Mr Joseph said he was “excited” to begin pushing for the policies in Labour’s manifesto.
In particular, Mr Joseph said he wanted to see improvements to primary and social care: “People [in Ashford] are not able to see their GP in a timely manner, which leads to people going to A&E, adding pressure.
“There are system changes, but also efficiency – how these services are run. We talk about how we need more money, but where is the money spent? Are we spending the money wisely in the system?”
He acknowledged the need to improve conditions for the nursing workforce: “We have a huge vacancy rate across the professions where we heavily rely on agency.
“We need to train more local staff and retain them. We don’t want to lose these people.
“We have recruited lots of nurses from India and other places, how are we going to retain these staff? Especially in Kent, where the cost of living is high, people are looking to move to other areas or other countries.”
This article forms a three-part interview series with the new Labour Party MPs from nursing backgrounds. Interviews with Mr Joseph, Birmingham Erdington MP Paulette Hamilton and Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP Kevin McKenna will be printed in the Nursing Times August 2024 magazine and online.
