Exclusive:'Deeply concerning' sickness levels quadruple at Scotland's NHS watchdog - and this is the main reason why

Sickness levels at Public Health Scotland are costing the taxpayer millions after nearly quadrupling in just four years - with staff from the health watchdog citing mental health as their biggest concern.

The annual number of workdays at Public Health Scotland (PHS) lost to sick days between 2020 and 2023 has rocketed from 3,296 to 11,479 .

And The Scotsman can reveal the total cost of these absences has soared from £393,000 to £1.52 million over the same time period.

Freedom of Information requests have also revealed the largest cause of absence at PHS is psychiatric illness, costing the taxpayer £422,000 in 2023, up from £114,000 in 2020. In 2023, PHS lost 3,377 workdays to absence due to psychiatric illness - a major increase on the 1,155 days recorded in 2020.

The number of days lost to cold, coughs and flu have also skyrocketed at the Government quango.

From 2020 to 2023, the number of workdays PHS lost due to respiratory illness rose tenfold from 133 to 1,191. This came with a cost increase from £19,100 to £185,000.

PHS is “uniquely sponsored” by the Scottish Government and Cosla - the councils’ umbrella body - and its mission is to look after Scotland’s health and provide statistics.

Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary, Dr Sandesh Gulhane, said: “Staff at Public Health Scotland are having to report on – and try to tackle – the SNP’s chronic mismanagement of our NHS, so it is little wonder that this is taking its toll, with soaring levels of sickness absence. 

“It is deeply concerning, but not surprising, that psychiatric illnesses, including stress and anxiety, are the leading cause of absences, and that these have trebled in recent years. 

“There’s a sad irony that the SNP Government quango responsible for promoting health and wellbeing cost the taxpayer £4m in sick pay over the last four years. 

“It’s clear from these alarming figures that staff at Public Health Scotland are at breaking point and that SNP ministers must set out a plan to combat the rising levels of ill health.” A PHS spokesperson said the organisation ”takes its responsibility for staff health and wellbeing very seriously”.

“We provide a range of wellbeing services and resources for staff including several options specifically to support mental wellness ,” the spokesperson said. “For the financial year 2023/24, our sickness absence rate was 2.81 per cent against a national NHS target of 4 per cent.”

The latest NHS Scotland-wide data is from 2022 - but shows a severe upward-trajectory of mental health absences within Scotland’s healthcare system.

Various Freedom of Information requests, sent to every health board in Scotland, revealed 74,013 NHS workers missed shifts due to anxiety, stress, depression or other mental health related illnesses between 2018 and 2022.

However, this figure is likely to be much larger, as NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) only revealed absences over the past three years. Despite this, NHSGGC had the highest tally out of Scotland’s 14 health boards, with 16,452 absent staff over that period.

The findings also reveal more than 1.5 million working days have been lost due to the absences. Again, the true figure is likely much higher as both NHS Tayside and NHS Forth Valley refused to reveal this information.

Freedom of Information requests have also shone a light on the gruelling shifts NHS workers are being asked to undertake. At NHS Borders, one member of staff worked a 19-hour shift in 2022. Although only five health boards provided data, NHS Borders confirmed the longest shift a member of staff had completed in 2022 was 19.5 hours.

Figures show the problem has got worse since 2018. The number of staff that were absent for mental health reasons has doubled since then, when 8,172 staff reported an absence due to anxiety, stress, depression or other mental illness.

Across the UK, the cost of healthcare absences has grown by more than 85 per cent in the past five years.

The median length of mental health absences for NHS staff has been about 15 days for the past five years, based on the data gathered. This figure peaked during the Covid-19 pandemic, at 16.8 days in 2020, but has remained at 14 or more since.

With the exception of 2022, data shows that every year saw an increase in the number of days off attributed to mental health issues.