,
Shadow Cabinet Minister for Mental Health, reacting to
figures out today from NHS Digital recording that 6.2 million
sick days were lost due to mental illness in the NHS workforce in
the last year, said:
“This Conservative Government has presided over 13 years of
mismanagement and staff shortages, leaving frontline NHS staff at
breaking point.
“During the worst crisis our NHS has experienced, with hospitals
buckling under the pressure, staff will continue to suffer.
Patients, and NHS staff, deserve so much better.
“The next Labour Government will recruit 8,500 more mental health
professionals, ensuring a million more patients get treated each
year, funded through scrapping the carried interest tax
loophole and scrapping tax relief for private schools.
“We’ll tackle pressure on staff and ensure patients are seen on
time again by doubling the number of medical school
places and training 10,000 extra nurses and
midwives every year paid for by abolishing the non-dom tax
status, and we’ll focus on retaining the fantastic
staff we already have."
Ends
Notes
- 6,214,808 days were lost due to mental illness in the year
October 2021 to September 2022 - the latest available figures,
published today.
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-sickness-absence-rates/september-2022-provisional-statistics
- This is compared to a total of 5,951,036 days lost due to
mental illness in the year October 2020 to September 2021.
-
Anxiety/stress/depression/other psychiatric illnesses is
consistently the most reported reason for sickness absence.
