Half of Shropshire hospital staff felt ill due to stress as pandemic took hold
Nearly half of staff at Shropshire’s two main hospitals felt ill due to work-related stress as the coronavirus pandemic took hold last year, according to a survey.
The annual NHS staff survey has revealed the toll of the Covid-19 crisis on staff at trusts across England, who faced huge pressures as hospital admissions surged.
At Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, 48 per cent of staff who responded to the 2020 survey said they had felt unwell in the past 12 months as a result of work-related stress – up from 42 per cent a year earlier.
At The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, near Oswestry, it stood at 35 per cent – up from 33 per cent on the previous year, while at Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust (Shropcom), the figure rose to 46 per cent from 39 per cent.
It also reflected the picture across England as a whole, where 44 per cent of NHS staff said they had been unwell due to work-related stress last year, compared to 40 per cent the year before.
Helen Buckingham, director of strategy at the Nuffield Trust health think tank, said the survey revealed “the astonishing resilience of the NHS”.
The NHS Staff Survey 2020 was carried out between September and December last year. Prerana Issar, chief people officer for the NHS, said there needed to be a sustained focus on healthcare workers’ physical and mental health.
“Given the high level of work-related stress for staff caused by the pandemic, we need to maintain our focus on health and wellbeing and give them the support they need during recovery to help us to maintain care for patients,” she said.
The proportion of staff at SaTH who are satisfied with their pay fell to 36 per cent last year, from 37 per cent in 2019.
At Shropcom, it fell to 39 per cent from 40 per cent and at RJAH dropped to 43 per cent from 46 per cent.
Commitment
The survey was carried out before the Government sparked a backlash by announcing a proposed one per cent pay rise for NHS staff.
Ms Buckingham said Covid-19 has hit certain parts of the NHS workforce more than others.
She added: “Below the headlines there are troubling signs for vital groups, even in a survey conducted between waves of the pandemic.
“Worryingly, as a row over pay intensifies, nurses have seen the sharpest fall in satisfaction with their salaries, dropping from 36 per cent to 33 per cent.
“These aren’t encouraging results for the drive to grow nursing numbers by 50,000 which is both a Government promise and a frontline necessity.”
Care minister Helen Whately said while elements of the annual staff survey responses are “encouraging”, there is more work to be done.
She said: “We will help staff recover from this pandemic, with investments in mental health support and professional development, along with our commitment to recruiting more doctors, nurses and health support workers so our NHS has the staff it needs.”
