140% increase in paramedic staff time lost to mental health

The number of hours paramedic staff lost to mental ill health in the North has risen by over 140% since 2019, the Scottish Liberal Democrats have revealed.

David Green, the party’s candidate at the next Holyrood election for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, warned “paramedics have been pushed to breaking point” and is calling for action to address NHS waiting times.

According to freedom of information requests submitted by the Scottish Liberal Democrats, 13,356.4 sickness hours were lost in 2024 due to anxiety, stress and depression among paramedics across Highland, Grampian, the Western Isles, Orkney, and Shetland. That is an increase from 9,374.8 hours in the year previous. 

In December last year, Scottish ambulance crews were put on the highest level of emergency due to significant pressure placed on services to meet the increasing huge demand for NHS services. 

The decision meant all leave could be cancelled for workers and all available staff might be called to the front line. At the time, a spokesperson for the Scottish Ambulance Service said patients who were not critically ill may have to wait longer for an ambulance. 

David Green, the Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, said:

“With increasing levels of staff absences due to mental ill-health, we can see paramedics are being pushed to their limits. This is deeply troubling both for them but also for people in need of life-saving treatment.

“When too many paramedics across the country have reported they are spending shifts waiting with patients in the back of ambulances because of a lack of space inside hospitals, the alarm bells need to be heeded.

“That’s why Liberal Democrats worked hard to secure millions more in the budget for social care and local healthcare. It is a step in the right direction to relieve some of the frontline pressure, not least delayed discharges, but the Scottish Government must get to grips with how big this challenge is.”

Last June, a poll of frontline staff found one in four ambulance workers had witnessed the death of a patient caused by delays in the past three years.

A survey of 3,000 members of the GMB union working in ambulance services across the UK found that 43% had sometimes spent their entire shift outside gridlocked A&E departments with patients in the back of ambulances, unable to hand them over due to a lack of space inside the hospital. 

The GMB said its study revealed that seven out of 10 ambulance staff surveyed, including paramedics, control centre workers and 999 and 111 call handlers, have considered leaving the service in the past year.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Number of Sickness Hours with Reason Recorded as 'Anxiety/Stress/Depression' among Paramedics:

*The Scottish Ambulance Service defines the North region as covering Grampian, Highland, Western Isles, Orkney, and Shetland.

The GMB survey can be found here: 1 in 4 ambulance workers witness death due to delays | GMB Union