Responding to the latest NHS England Sickness Absence Rates data, Royal College of Nursing Director for England, Patricia Marquis, said:
“Burnt out, stressed, and unwell. The government has normalised unacceptable levels of stress for nursing staff working in the NHS.
“Nursing staff are being pushed to do more and more – with record vacancies, chronic staff shortages and growing staff sickness due to stress, anxiety and depression. Patient safety is compromised as nursing staff are over stretched - responsible for 10,15 or even more very sick patients at one time. This is not sustainable for patients or nursing staff.
“The government cannot rely on the good will of staff who are being made unwell by their job to get waiting times down and improve patient care.
“With the King’s Speech and the Autumn Statement next month, the government can show it values nursing by investing in the workforce. Failure to invest in nursing has had inevitable consequences for the health and well-being of nursing staff, who are then forced to become patients themselves. Nursing staff are resilient, but no one can be this resilient.”
Ends
Notes to editors
Today’s data showed that as a percentage of overall NHS nursing staff sickness, anxiety/stress/depression/other psychiatric illnesses was responsible for 26.1% of all absence amongst nursing staff in June 2023. This is up both on May 2023 (25.2%) and on this time last year (June 2022, 21.9%).
