NHS staff mental health sick days surge

As reported by The Independent, mental health sick days cost the NHS almost half a billion pounds as staff anxiety and stress levels have skyrocketed

Costs have almost doubled compared to before the pandemic from £279m to £468m as the NHS faces its biggest-ever strike action this week where both nurses and ambulance workers on picket lines on Monday.

Healthcare leaders have become increasingly vocal over concerns over working conditions and pay with further strikes from members of Unison set to take place on Friday and junior doctors on course for a three-day strike later this year.

The sickness data shared with The Independent by GoodShape, an employee well-being and performance analysis company, shows the number of staff sick days increased in 2022 to 12m from 7.21m in 2019. That is despite the overall number of people working in the NHS increasing from 1.2m to 1.3m.

The overall cost to the NHS of absences for the five most common reasons – which includes mental health – increased to a staggering £1.85bn from £1.01bn between 2019 to 2022, according to figures from GoodShape.

Pat Cullen, chief executive and general secretary for the Royal College of Nursing said in response: “These figures are shocking but not surprising. With 47,000 vacant nurse posts in England alone, the pressures on staff are unrelenting.”