Survey reveals working for the NHS is making staff sick with stress

Full Story in Devon Live 14 April 2018

NHS staff in Devon don’t look forward to going to work and feel there are not enough staff for time to do their job properly.

That is according to the latest NHS Staff Survey results, which show one in nine members of staff at both Torbay and South Devon and Plymouth Hospitals (11.4%) said they rarely or never look forward to going to work, while it was one in 11 (9.4%) at Northern Devon.

Bodies representing NHS staff have said the latest survey should act as a warning to the government that staff are working under “impossible conditions” and that their goodwill and dedication could not be “a replacement for adequate funding and proper workforce planning”.

When asked if there was enough staff at the organisation for them to do their job properly, 55% at Plymouth Hospitals disagreed, as did 44.9% at Torbay and South Devon, and 41.2% at Northern Devon.

More than a third of staff at some trusts said they had felt unwell due to work-related stress in 2017, including 37.0% at Plymouth Hospitals, 36.3% at Torbay and South Devon, and 35.7% at Northern Devon.