19.01.15
More nurses off due to stress as NHS demand rises
The number of nurses taking time off due to stress has soared as the NHS struggles to cope with the huge rise in demand.
Responses to FOI requests by the Observer show that both the number of nurses on stress-related leave and the amount of time taken off are up significantly in the past three years in London, Scotland and Wales.
According to the papers figures, in London, 1,497 nurses at 31 NHS trusts took time off because of stress during 2014, up 27% on the 1,179 who did so in 2012. The numbers equate to one in every 29 nurses being off ill with stress.
On average the nearly 1,500 nurses took 38 days off for stress-related leave, which also includes anxiety and depression. The number of nurses’ working days lost to stress at the 28 acute trusts and three mental health trusts rose from 38,654 in 2012 to 57,156 last year – a rise of 48%.
Unions say that the figures show the nurses in the NHS are being stretched to breaking point as a result of having longer and more demanding shifts while also dealing with understaffing and increasingly complex illnesses.
Kim Sunley, from the Royal College of Nursing, said: “The strain put on the health service in recent years, with jobs having been cut and resources frozen as patient numbers have gone up, has made the situation even worse.”
Wales has seen the number of nurses off with stress rise 17% from 2,188 in 2012 to 2,563 last year. Those who become so stressed they could no longer work were off sick for an average of 51 days. Scotland also saw stress-related sick days among nurses rise, by 34% from 116,735 in 2012 to 156,880 last year.
In November, NHS Employers issued new guidance for NHS managers on how to reduce stress and help staff. This was in response to estimates that over 30% of all NHS sick leave is due to stress, costing the health service up to £400m a year.
In 2012 and 2013 the results of the NHS Staff Survey showed a combined 38% of NHS employees had suffered stress the previous year.
The Department of Health maintained that stress levels were stable across England.
“We know nurses are working extremely hard, but these figures create a misleading picture,” a spokesman said. “The NHS staff survey shows job satisfaction has risen in the past three years while work-related stress has remained stable.”
There were 6,000 more nurses in the NHS in England than when the coalition took power in 2010, he added.
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