One in eight (12%) paramedics and ambulance healthcare assistants in the UK were off ill with stress or anxiety last year, forcing them to take more than 80,000 sick days collectively.
People Management reports that according to figures gathered through a series of freedom of information requests submitted by trade union GMB, 2,468 paramedics and healthcare assistants had to take time off because of stress in the financial year 2016-17, leading to 81,668 working days being lost. In two of the surveyed NHS trusts, almost a quarter (23% and 22%) of frontline staff were off sick with stress.
“These disturbing figures once again prove what we already know – that our frontline ambulance workers are in the midst a stress and anxiety epidemic,” said Kevin Brandstatter, GMB national officer. “They are consistently overworked, underpaid and expected to do incredibly difficult jobs – such as dealing with the aftermath of the Grenfell disaster or Manchester bombings – without adequate staff or resources.”
The union is currently campaigning for the retirement age for paramedics to be lowered to match other physically demanding frontline emergency service roles, such as police officers and firefighters, who are able to retire at 60. “Forcing ambulance staff to work up to the age of 68 is another major cause of stress,” Brandstatter added. “There’s no justification for treating paramedics differently to comparable physically demanding frontline roles.”
The report says a separate study, released by workforce management consultancy Kronos, revealed that 85% of emergency service workers were worried about burnout, with nearly three quarters (74%) reporting that they had already suffered from workplace fatigue.
The study suggested poor rostering could be a key factor driving burnout concerns. Almost two thirds (61%) of respondents said rostering was not organised effectively, with more than half (51%) saying the process was unfair, driving employees to regularly work longer shifts, or more often than they should – sometimes in excess of what is legally allowed.
More than half (51%) of emergency service employees said they had worked more than 11 consecutive hours without a break, and 58% had been called into work with less than four hours’ notice because of staff shortages.
“There is a real responsibility on managers to ensure their employees are getting adequate rest, especially if they’re being asked to operate for extended periods of time,” said Gavin England, industry and customer insights manager at Kronos. “Not only is this their legal obligation, but failing to do so could lead to an increased risk of fatigue that can impair decision-making and eventually lead to burnout.”
He added that proper support from managers was essential to making sure employees’ mental and physical health is looked after. “Having proper breaks between shifts and a culture that encourages staff to take the time needed to rest and recuperate will help prevent burnout and allow them to be ready to carry out these incredibly difficult and life-saving roles that we often take for granted,” he said.
[link url="http://www2.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2017/09/20/stress-caused-ambulance-workers-to-take-80-000-sick-days-last-year.aspx"]People Management report[/link]