New figures have revealed almost 170,000 staff hours were lost to mental health absences in Scotland's ambulance service in the space of a year. Figures obtained through a freedom of information request show that between July 2021 and June this year there were 169,574 staff absences.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton accused the SNP government of not addressing the mental health problem in the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) and said emergency service workers are "sacrificing their own health".
The number of absences has soared by 68,559 hours from the year prior where figures equated to 101,015 hours. Paramedics, technicians, care assistants and accident and emergency team leaders within the SAS are included in the data if they have an absence due to anxiety, stress, depression or other psychiatric illness.
Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, urged the Scottish Government to implement strategies to help medics with their mental health. He said: "The figures that I am unveiling today show that in many cases they have sacrificed their own health to keep others safe.
"Medics and call handlers know that they do a high pressure job but that doesn't mean the Government should expect them to constantly go faster and faster. That's a recipe for a breakdown.
"Soaring staff absences show the heavy toll that this sort of work can take, but the Government isn't doing enough to ease the pressures. As has become typical of their approach to emergency care, the SNP are sticking their fingers in their ears and hoping the problem simply goes away."
A burnout prevention strategy, proposed by his party, would ease the pressure on staff and introduce an NHS staff assembly to give them an opportunity to shape the future of the service.
"Sadly, these are both policies which have been voted down or rejected by the SNP/Green coalition," he said. "This needs to stop. Working for our emergency services requires huge resilience; it's about time our Government acknowledged that by giving staff the support they need."
The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.
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