{"id":255340,"date":"2025-11-01T21:18:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T21:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/255340\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T21:18:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T21:18:22","slug":"nhs-staff-took-over-620000-sick-days-for-mental-health-in-a-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/255340\/","title":{"rendered":"NHS staff took over 620,000 sick days for mental health in a month"},"content":{"rendered":"

NHS staff take more than half a million days off due to stress or depression each month, figures reveal.<\/p>\n

Mental health problems are the leading reason for doctors and nurses to take sick days, accounting for nearly a third of all absences.<\/p>\n

The absence data for June published by NHS England showed that there were 626,800 days lost due to anxiety, depression, stress or psychiatric illnesses.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Early flu season piles pressure on NHS before junior doctors\u2019 strike<\/a><\/p>\n

About one in 20 NHS staff called in sick every day. Musculoskeletal problems and gastrointestinal illnesses were the most common reasons after mental health<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to the annual NHS staff survey, stress and dissatisfaction levels are particularly high among younger workers. Those aged 21-30 are the most likely to say that they have felt unwell due to work-related stress in the past year, and more than half of this age group are affected. Older age groups tend to be more satisfied with their jobs and pay.<\/p>\n

Sickness rates increase over the winter months as a result of flu and Covid outbreaks, peaking in January.<\/p>\n

Health leaders are concerned about a large flu epidemic this winter, as outbreaks have started \u201cunusually early\u201d and cases are three times higher than normal at this time of year.<\/p>\n

Rory Deighton, acute and community care director at the NHS Confederation, said: \u201cThe flu season arriving early this year is deeply worrying given the signs were already pointing to another difficult winter. The NHS has already had a very busy summer and has been running hot coming into the winter months, so this will pile yet more pressure on already squeezed services.<\/p>\n

\u201cNHS leaders have been stepping up preparations for winter, but they are concerned that the spike in seasonal viruses coupled with staff sickness levels could also be compounded by forthcoming industrial action \u2014 with resident doctors planning five days of strikes in November.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 NHS \u2018needs more generalist doctors to end patient gridlock\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Analysis by the employee survey group Stribe showed that absence rates in the NHS have been significantly higher since the pandemic. Levels of anxiety, stress and depression have accounted for the rise. Paramedics are the most likely to call in sick, while doctors are the least. <\/p>\n

Lucy Harvey, chief operating officer at Stribe, said: \u201cOur analysis shows a workforce that has settled into a concerning \u2018new normal\u2019 of high sickness absence, where the main cause is significant employee strain, primarily driven by anxiety and stress \u2014 particularly amongst the younger staff. This is a serious and growing wellbeing challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data provides a clear warning: without targeted, proactive intervention, healthcare faces a record-breaking period of severe staffing strain this winter. Healthcare employers must invest in a strong wellbeing infrastructure that tackles workload and psychosocial risks to prevent staff burnout and reduce absences.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NHS staff take more than half a million days off due to stress or depression each month, figures…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49,48,84,393,394],"class_list":{"0":"post-255340","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}