Days off for stressed staff double at Walsall Manor Hospital
The number of Walsall Manor Hospital staff who have taken time off work due to stress and anxiety has doubled over the last five years, figures show.
In 2011/12, 118 out of 4,011 staff were signed off for at least one absence day due to anxiety, with the figure jumping to 240 amongst 4,333 staff for 2015/16.
The figure increased year on year in between, jumping from 118 to 147 in 2012/13, then 158 the following year.
In 2014/15, the number of staff signed off due to anxiety reached 223 before reaching 240 over the last year.
It was in the aftermath of 2014/15 that the Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust was thrown into special measures by the CQC, with whistleblowers telling inspectors of a ‘heavy handed’ approach from senior management which they said bordered on a bullying culture.
When the trust was told to improve by CQC inspectors in January 2016, it was also said that the approach taken by senior staff had led staff across the organisation to not feel respected.
Louise Ludgrove, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust interim director of human resources, said the trust is offering support to its staff and added much of the anxiety was not work related.
She said: “Nationally the two highest causes of staff absence in the NHS have been stress/anxiety and musculoskeletal problems for a number of years and these figures are increasing.
“Walsall Healthcare has developed a number of supporting services for staff who are affected by emotional health and wellbeing problems, recognising that our data shows that around 65 per cent of these problems relate to home circumstances, around 20 per cent are work related and 15 per cent are caused by a mixture of both.
"In recognition of these figures the Trust introduced additional support purely for staff suffering from stress relating to home circumstances, in January 2017.
“This support is provided through external counsellors.
“We have an occupational health service which provides psychological and counselling sessions for staff and we offer resilience and mindfulness training sessions.
“The trust has also introduced a Health & Wellbeing Hub, situated within the main hospital, for staff to access information about work life balance and healthy lifestyles.”
Recently, staff at Walsall Manor Hospital have been told to take their ‘chance to shine’ when the upcoming CQC re-inspection comes around.
Chief executive Richard Kirby says the trust is expecting its next inspection ‘in the near future’ and has urged staff to showcase improvements made in the last 18 months when the moment arrives.
