By Nursing Union warns of mental health impact on NHS staff
It is feared that the continued impact and stress on NHS from the pandemic could lead to more taking time off due to their mental health.
Paul Wood from the Royal College of Nursing in Yorkshire and the Humber told Viking FM: “The longer term impact might be on their health, wellbeing and mental health.
“There are conversations now around post traumatic stress effecting staff who have been through absolutely horrendous experiences throughout the last 2 years.
“People will question why they’re doing the job they’re doing, if it’s having that impact on them, at a time when staffing is so short, when they’re not feeling valued and rewarded for what they do, so the immediate impact could be that we see a loss of staff.”
This follows a recent upsurge in hospitalisations and infection rates from the Omicron variant.
While the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Trust reporting that they currently have 479 frontline staff off work sick.
Questions over the mental health of NHS workers have been asked throughout the pandemic, with many staff saying they suffered after the first wave.
A study by researchers at Kings College London found that one in seven NHS staff had thought of self-harm or “being better dead”.
Another study by Roehampton University found that one in five nurses (21 per cent) suffered high levels of depression – up from five per cent pre-pandemic.
The study also found reported levels of severe anxiety rose from eight per cent to 36 per cent and severe stress increased from 11 per cent to 46 per cent.
Both studies found that nurses were more vulnerable to mental health issues than doctors.
