Strain on ambulance staff sees surge in mental illness

Ambulance staff took almost a quarter of a million mental-health-related sick days last year as stressed crews are being "stretched to breaking point", new figures show.

- JON STONE

Chronic staff shortages have put paramedics, technicians and call handlers under huge pressure with ambulance waiting times hitting their worst level on record during winter and morale sinking to a new low.

Now, figures obtained under freedom of information laws show that in 2022, one in 16 of England's NHS ambulance workers took time off for conditions such as anxiety, stress and depression - the equivalent of 1,100 staff.

NHS bosses and unions say deteriorating working conditions caused by staff shortages are driving the absences, which have increased by a third since 2020, from 188,134 to 247,711 lost days. At some trusts, nearly a third of staff have taken at least one day off sick citing mental ill health, while the number on long-term sick leave for psychiatric reasons has increased by 38 per cent in just two years.

"Increased demand, reduced resources, and queueing at emergency departments" has put workers under huge stress, said Jo Mildenhall, paramedic psychological health manager at the College of Paramedics, as she warned that the problem could get worse without changes.

"Mental ill health, including burnout, stress, psychological trauma and moral injury, is a rising and significant issue, and without further investment into addressing the causative factors and providing additional interventions and supports, we are likely to see the issue increase further," she said.

A total of 6,029 of the 17,447 workers in England took time off for mental health reasons across the country's nine ambulance trusts in 2022 - up from 5,126 in 2020 and 5,958 in 2021. Some 1,243 staff were on long-term sick leave for mental illness last year, an increase from 904 in 2020.