Concern as more than 1,300 NHS Grampian staff off work due to mental health issues last year

Tess White MSP has said the number of staff absences across NHS Grampian due to mental health are “deeply concerning” after new figures showed more than 1,300 employees were off work from the illness last year.

The figures, from a Freedom of Information response from the Scottish Government, shows 6,492 staff were absent from work at the health board and more than 55,000 working days were lost over the last five years as a result of mental health issues.

These included anxiety, stress, depression and other mental health issues.

And last year, 1,356 staff were off due to mental health problems resulting in 11,161 days being lost.

Tess Whyte say the figures must be an urgent wake-up call for health secretary Michael Matheson

Nationally, the Freedom of Information requests by the Scottish Conservatives revealed almost 75,000 staff in Scotland’s NHS have been absent in the last five years due to mental health.

The FOI responses also revealed at least 1.5 million working days have been lost as a result of the staff absences, with the figure likely to be even higher as not every health board provided the information.

North-east MSP Ms White says her thoughts are with any member of staff who have had to take time off as a result of mental health issues.

The shadow public health minister added that it is clear NHS Grampian staff were completely overwhelmed and has urged SNP health secretary Michael Matheson to treat these figures as an urgent wake-up call.

Ms White said: “The scale of absences among staff working at NHS Grampian due to mental health is deeply concerning. My thoughts are with those members of staff in the health board who have felt completely overwhelmed and needed to take time off work.

“These eye-opening findings highlight how the dire workforce planning from successive SNP health secretaries has left NHS Grampian with a shortage of frontline staff. We should never have reached a point where so many staff across the north-east are beyond breaking point and so many working days are being lost.

“These figures must be an urgent wake-up call for the SNP’s latest health secretary Michael Matheson. It is clear Humza Yousaf’s flimsy NHS Recovery plan has failed to support dedicated staff in NHS Grampian and should be ripped up immediately.”