New research has claimed mental health and stress is the most common reason for social care staff sickness and absence in more than 77% of councils.
The data obtained from 114 councils by the British Psychological Society (BPS) also revealed 1.6 million days of sickness absence were taken by adult and children’s social care staff at the councils surveyed.
BPS president-elect Roman Raczka said: ‘Health and social care leaders simply can’t afford not to invest in staff wellbeing if they wish to retain staff, recruit new talent and provide the effective, safe services people deserve.
‘We urge them to commit to long term ringfenced funding for dedicated mental health and wellbeing support for health and care staff.’
It comes after the Future Social Care Coalition this week called on ministers to intervene to attract and retain workers in the ‘overlooked’ care sector.
This article was originally published by The MJ (£).
