New figures show that hospital staff across London Borough of Hillingdon are taking time off for mental health reasons as they’re ‘pushed beyond their limits’. A recent investigation by Legal Expert has revealed that between both hospitals staff have taken over 600 days off for mental health reasons in recent years, with the figure rising year on year.
A total of 641 days were taken off by staff members in the Hillingdon NHS Foundation Trust. The borough is home to two hospitals:
Hillingdon Hospital and Mount Vernon Hospital in Northwood. The Trust serves people from Hillingdon and surrounding areas such as Ealing, Harrow, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.
Earlier this year, the government announced funding would not be renewed for a national network of mental health and wellbeing hubs for NHS staff. These were originally set up in 2020 to support NHS frontline workers during the pandemic.
These hubs have been described as a ‘lifeline for a workforce in crisis’, with closures across the network cited as a potential reason for the increase in absences rising year on year.
In 2022/2023, the number of staff who took a day off for mental health reasons dropped to 209 from 221. However, this number rose again this year to 211 absent staff members so far this year.
A poll conducted by NHS Charities found that three out of four NHS staff have experienced poor mental health in the past year, pointing to issues around pay and workload causing a number of mental health challenges for staff.
The investigation has found this is issue is neither seasonal nor local to Hillingdon. 96 per cent of staff across the NHS believe pressure on the NHS is rising.
In a statement about their poll NHS Charities together said: “Faced with the responsibilities of saving lives, high workload, long and unsociable hours and exposure to traumatic events, it’s no surprise that many NHS staff are struggling with their mental health.
“Pressures inside the NHS have become so severe that the equivalent of a week off work was taken by every single one of the health service’s 350k nurses last year due to stress, anxiety and depression, analysis of new NHS England data shows.
Due to ongoing staffing problems, many workers are pushed beyond their mental and physical limits due to long, intensive hours.”
A spokesperson for Hillingdon Hospitals Foundation Trust told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We take great care with the mental health of our staff, as part of comprehensive wellbeing measures which are constantly reviewed and improved.
“Mental wellbeing and resilience resources are available to staff, and these are signposted regularly. The reasons for absence due to poor mental health can be complex and challenging, and as a Trust, we continue to support our staff and to work hard to address these causes.”
Philip is a Local Democracy Reporter covering Ealing, Hillingdon and Hounslow, with a focus on council decisions, housing, planning, licensing and community stories across west London.
