Responding to the latest NHS England workforce sickness absence data, Royal College of Nursing Director for England, Patricia Marquis, said:
“Nursing and care staff are burning out – with high rates of depression, stress, and anxiety. Staff sickness has shown little sign of improvement over the last decade - today a staggering twice as many are grappling with mental health issues than calling in sick due to cold or flu.
“It’s a dangerous cycle – understaffed wards put increasing pressure on hard-pressed nurses, who are in turn more likely to get sick, creating more gaps in the rota.
“The government has normalised unsafe working conditions in England’s NHS, and put patient care at risk. Ministers must start providing support now – by setting out how they will invest in the nursing workforce, and radically overhauling nursing pay.”
Ends
Notes to editors
The latest NHS England Workforce sickness absence data show 569,838 full-time equivalent days were lost to sickness in September 2023. This makes the proportion of days lost to illness as 5.3% of the total days available. This compares to just 4.7% at the same point in 2013 (for ‘nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff’).
Of the days lost 24.3% were due to stress, depression, and anxiety. This is against just 10.1% for cold and flu.
