Mental Health Nursing / Psychology

I haven't done the route you've mentioned, I did undergrad Psychology. I just wanted to say that Clinical Psych is very competitive, and you must have a BPS accredited degree. Is there a reason you want to become a registered nurse before changing paths?

You don’t go into clinical psych with a nursing degree. Clin psych and mental health nurse are. VERY different roles

Why not doing a BSc psych degree then clin psych?

Given how competitive CP is, I’d say becoming a MHN first with one eye on becoming a CP later is an excellent plan. I know a few MHNs who’ve done it and it’s a great way to accrue experience in the field with actual responsibility whilst being paid a decent salary and progressing in your career, as opposed to doing support work (horrendously low paid and little responsibility) and unpaid volunteer positions for an indeterminate amount of time after graduation in psychology. You’ve got a great back up career in the event you decide not to go for psychology and there is no pressure to get it done.
As to how different CP and MHN are, that’s not actually true. There’s a lot of overlap between the roles and many psychological therapies can be delivered by either CPs or MHNs. Yes, they’re different roles but the client groups they work with are the same.