NHS poll shows rising toll of work stress on staff health

The proportion of NHS staff in England who reported feeling unwell as a result of work-related stress increased by nearly 10% last year as the Covid pandemic took its toll, according to the health service’s 2020 survey.

The survey found that 44% reported feeling unwell as a result of work-related stress in the previous 12 months, compared with 40.3% in 2019. The proportion has steadily increased since 2016 (36.8%).

In a year like no other for the health service, the 2020 survey also found a slight reduction in respondents who said they often or always looked forward to going to work, and a bigger fall in those who said they were often or always enthusiastic about their job.

Nevertheless, the survey – which was carried out before Boris Johnson announced plans to give NHS England healthcare workers a 1% pay rise next year, prompting widespread fury – found that the proportion of staff who were thinking of leaving the NHS fell from 19.6% to 18.2%.

In a year in which ethnic minorities were heavily represented in the death toll of healthcare workers, and concerns were raised about being more likely to be pushed into frontline roles and about access to personal protective equipment, the responses relating to equality, diversity and inclusion were not so positive.

The proportion of staff who said their employer provided equal opportunities fell compared with 2019, with a decrease among black and minority ethnic staff from 71.2% to 69.2%.

Danny Mortimer, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said the overall picture was encouraging in the circumstances, adding: “There are, though, significant areas of concern, and the recent data on the continued poorer experience of ethnic minority staff starkly reminds NHS leaders that staff experience varies unacceptably in their organisations."

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Source: The Guardian, 11 March 2021