Media analysis reveals stress absence has grown by 70 per cent
Stress-related sickness has grown by a dramatic 70 per cent among East of England public sector workers over the past five years, according to research by the BBC.
The corporation analysed more than 100 Freedom of Information Act responses (FOI) from councils, hospital trusts, police forces, and fire and ambulance services in eight counties across the region to reveal this high growth in the level of sickness, which is costing the taxpayer millions of pounds a year.
According to FOI data, the BBC said that days lost by East of England Ambulance medical staff to stress-related sickness absence has grown from 1,948 in 2009 to 6,106 in 2013, equating to a 213 per cent increase.
And the East Midlands Ambulance Service reported a 257 per cent rise from 2009 to 2013, while the rise for South Central Ambulance Service was 35 per cent.
Suffolk Fire Service saw the number of days lost rise by 696 per cent from 57 in 2009 to 454 in 2013.
Unions told the broadcaster that public sector cuts, which have led to thousands of job losses, are part of the reason for the increase, although the BBC report recognised that public sector employers said they were working to relieve pressure on staff.
Roy Humphreys, secretary of the Suffolk branch of the Fire Brigades Union, said that the cuts have led to "more pressure on everybody".
However, Mark Sanderson, Suffolk's deputy chief fire officer, told the BBC: "We believe the rise in the number of days' illness in this area relates to our improved monitoring arrangements and better reporting but we have also worked to try and reduce the perceived stigma associated with reporting stress, which can be related to a combination of work and home issues."
Within Norfolk Fire Service, the figure rose from 95 in 2010 to 486 in 2013, up by 412 per cent.
The data for East of England police forces revealed increases in stress-related absences in 2013 compared to 2009 in Northamptonshire (143 per cent up), Essex (128 per cent), Bedfordshire (108 per cent) and Thames Valley (17 per cent).
The branch secretary of Northamptonshire Police Federation Neil Goosey said cuts to the force and further planned cuts of £20m "cause so much anxiety and fear", and were having a "huge impact on staff".
In response a Northamptonshire Police spokesman said: "As a force, we deal with stress-related issues a lot more proactively than may have been the case in the past.
"For example, a year ago, we launched the Open Mind Network, an internal project designed to help people with stress problems."
In addition, a BBC survey of the 68 district and county councils in the region also showed employees had logged 123,082 days off due to stress in 2013, an increase of about 25 per cent on the 2009 figure.
Its survey also found that last year more than 3,000 council staff across the East took time off for stress last year with the local branch of the mental health charity Mind reporting it was seeing a rise in the number of employers seeking support for workers.
The charity’s workplace specialist Ezra Hewing said: "Some managers are lacking confidence or the know-how to address mental health specifically so they avoid having the discussions because they are perhaps concerned about triggering something off or making an existing situation worse."