Staff Mental Health
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- 1661/22
- Request Date
- 13 Sep 2022
- Response Date
- 03 Oct 2022
- Information Requested
1. The number of paramedics by headcount who were absent due to stress, anxiety,
depression or other psychiatric illness between (the beginning of) January 2022 and
( the end of ) August 2022.
Please provide a breakdown by month in a table.
2. If possible, how many working hours have been lost due to the absences.- Response
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.
Please find the table below containing the data the Scottish Ambulance Service is able to provide.
Table shows the number of hours lost in a single year to sickness absence for Paramedics. Please note this does not include Covid related absences.
Data is provided as hours lost because of the nature of our shift patterns, meaning that the length of a single working day varies and is not equivalent to a standard working pattern.
The Scottish Ambulance service holds data that can be provided, under the umbrella term for anxiety/stress/depression (mental health, as given). The data cannot be broken down any further into any other specific subcategories. This level of information would only be recorded within an individual’s ‘personal’ record which is personal health information to them and not recorded in any data set.
Absence Hours (excl. Covid), 01/01/2022-31/08/2022
National (excl. MTU)
Jan-22
Feb-22
Mar-22
Apr-22
May-22
Jun-22
Jul-22
Aug-22
Contracted Hours
885,556
802,874
837,154
885,209
901,461
881,624
897,340
912,332
Total Absence Hours
71,531
58,807
66,534
67,661
70,000
68,545
67,905
70,595
8%
7%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
8%
Mental Health Absence Hours
24,529
18,525
21,267
21,464
21,245
20,694
19,485
21,013
3%
2%
3%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
- Response Documents
