25-018 Staff Mental Health Absences

Freedom of Information Request

Reference

25-018 Staff Mental Health Absences

Request Date

08 Jan 2025

Response Date

30 Jan 2025

Information Requested

I'm looking to find out the number of SAS staff that have been registered as signed off sick due to mental health issues including stress, anxiety and depression over the past 5 years. Could we have ; - a breakdown of each year from 2020 to 2025 - show a breakdown of location I would also like to request to know the number of SAS staff that have taken their own lives to suicide since 2020 with a breakdown of each year please

Response

The wellbeing of our hardworking staff is a key priority for the Service, and we have put additional measures in place and increased support over the last year in line with our Health and Wellbeing Strategy. We have also been working in partnership with key hospital sites to reduce delays in patient handover. 

We are thankful to all our staff, who have been doing an incredible job in very difficult circumstances. In addition, over the last 3 years, we’ve recruited a record 1,388 staff, introduced 52 additional ambulances, aligned shift patterns to meet patient demand and expanded into 10 new locations as part of our Demand and Capacity Programme

Please see the table below detailing the count of staff where the absence reason was recorded as Anxiety/Stress/Depression.

2020     2021     2022     2023     2024

East                                           217       283       276       283        289

North                                         57         73         86        105        114

West                                          213       257       294       324        385

National Operations                  164       196       196       204        207

Other                                         31         70         46         45          55

 

Please consider when interpreting this data

A. An employee may be counted in more than one year. For example: if employee is absent in 2020 and the absence continues into 2021, they will be counted in the figures for both years. 

B. An employee is counted in a year if they had an absence due to anxiety, stress or depression of any length of time in that year (i.e. whether it is 1 day or 365 days) 

C. If an employee area within a calendar year and were absent in both areas, they will be counted across each of these.

D. The Scottish Ambulance Service cannot report if absences with Anxiety, stress or depression are work-related or of a personal nature.

The Scottish Ambulance service has a duty, under the Data Protection Act to avoid directly or indirectly revealing any personal details, it is for this reason the location has been broken down into region level.

The Scottish Ambulance Service has recorded <5 staff suicides since 1st January 2020. 

Any further information is data transferred and contains person identifiable information, and we consider this information to be exempt under Section 38 1(b) of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002. 

Point to note - We take the mental health of our staff very seriously, which is why we have developed a robust programme to support them. Managers work closely with staff to encourage them to report any concerns about their welfare and we provide assistance and funding for staff seeking professional counselling services and occupational health services. 

The Scottish Ambulance service has and continuously reviews a varied range of support tools aimed at staff in relation to Mental Health – related illnesses. If you would like more information on the services, we provide please do not hesitate to get in touch and this can be provided.