FOI 25-123 Organisation Stress Assessment

Freedom of Information Request

Reference
FOI 25-123 Organisation Stress Assessment
Request Date
12 Mar 2025
Response Date
07 Apr 2025
Information Requested

In relation to Q1 we are not seeking information on any policy on reactive risk assessments, i.e. those carried out as a part of return-to-work process after a stress related absence, we are looking for information that the Scottish Ambulance Service are meeting their obligations under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and have a suitable and sufficient risk assessment in place to control the risk of harm as a result of stressful working conditions throughout the organisation. Our previous attempt to request to seek this information (24/168) provided no evidence stress risks had been assessed across the Scottish Ambulance Service using some form of risk assessment tool such as the HSE Stress Management Standards. 

 

We hope the following questions are clearer regarding the information sought.  

 

The information we have requested is as follows: 

 

  1. Has the Scottish Ambulance Service carried out an organisational occupational risk assessment? 

 

  1. When was any organisational stress risk carried out and what tools were used manage the process? 

 

  1. If so, please provide evidence of the findings and control measures implemented to reduce the risk of occupational stress illnesses 

 

  1. In the process of carrying out any organisational stress risk assessment were your recognised trade unions consulted? 

 

  1. Could you please provide numbers of stress related absences in each of the last five years? 
Response

The Scottish Ambulance Service last did an organisational stress survey in 2017 using the Work Positive Tool recommended by Healthy Working Lives.  

 

The Scottish Ambulance’s Stress Policy is in the process of being updated to be brought in line with the NHS Scotland’s 'Once for Scotland' Policy.  While this is being developed, SAS has written its own Healthy Mind Policy which takes account of a Stress policy but also looks at mental health in a much broader way than solely stress. The Healthy Mind Policy, alongside the Wellbeing Policy and Health Passports, provide new mitigations to be included in the redraft of the Scottish Ambulance Service’s organisational risk assessment. 

 

The Scottish Ambulance Service has published its Health and Wellbeing Strategy on its website alongside its Mental Health Strategy  

 

We continue to review our offerings for Occupational Health and specialist psychologist support.  We have also introduced the TRiM Network, which is a trauma-focused peer support, designed to help people who have experienced a traumatic or potentially traumatic event at work. Within this network  66 trained employees have been trained and a website which links to our  intranet to explain what it is and how to access it, has been launched. 

 

The risk assessment will follow the agreed process of all SAS risk assessments in that it will be worked on by the Health and Safety team before being sent out for comments within the organisation including staff side.  It will be signed by the author, the staff side rep and someone senior in the service, it will then go to the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Group for approval before being published on the Scottish Ambulance Service intranet.  

  

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 attached data sheet detailing the count of staff where the absence reason was recorded as Anxiety/Stress/Depression. 

Please consider when interpreting this data 

  1. 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.
  2. 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)
  3. 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. 

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. 

Response Documents

HS 023 Healthy Mind Policy Updated REDACTED (1) (PDF | 490KB)

FOI 25 123 Data (XLSX | 10KB)

In This Section