Paramedic stress puts strain on emergencies

Figures supplied to Scotland on Sunday under the Freedom of Information Act show ambulance staff took more than 3,700 days off due to stress last year.

The figure accounts for 14% of the total time taken off with illness by paramedics, compared with 8% in 2003, when 1,960 days were lost due to stress.

With the total number of sick days for all reasons rising from 22,627 to 25,812 in the same period, it means the equivalent of 70 of the service's 3,000 staff were missing due to sickness.

Crews blame rising workloads and increasing levels of violence against emergency personnel for a rise in pressure.

They warn long-term staff absence is also forcing bosses to send out one-man crews when they are unable to find overtime cover. It means fewer ambulances are available to respond to emergencies because lone crews are only able to make routine patient transfers.

Ian O'Friel, Scottish secretary for the Association of Professional Ambulance Personnel, said: "Workloads have been increasing seasonally while the amount of violence and abuse directed at staff is also increasing. Stress is a long-term illness, and as more staff take time off it means greater pressure on those left as they are asked to cover shifts. If an ambulance station has five vehicles and one of those is out of action due to staff shortages, it can dramatically affect the service.

"Control staff are under pressure to meet time standards, while paramedics must meet response times. But this becomes increasingly difficult if vehicles are out of action."

Insiders at the service also claim major incidents in 2004 have taken their toll on ambulance staff. One said: "We deal with difficult situations every day, but major incidents, particularly trauma involving children, can have a profound effect on staff.

"There is little doubt it can add extra anxiety to an already high-pressure job. We saw similar things in the wake of the Dunblane massacre and the Lockerbie bombing."

Figures from the Scottish Ambulance Service show the number of accident and emergency calls attended by paramedics rose by 3.6% in the past year to 509,753. Only 55% of those were reached inside the eight minute target.

But bosses claim the average time take to reach emergencies dropped from 9.8 minutes in 2003 to 9.3 minutes in 2004.

A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: "We now have extensive stress counselling services in place to ensure the welfare of our staff."