Staff who work for South East Coast Ambulance Service made 993 reports of ill mental health last year, which included anxiety, stress, depression or other psychiatric illnesses, new figures have revealed.

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb), which has over 4,000 staff and operates ambulances across Kent, saw an increase of 16% from 2019's figures.

The figures obtained via a Freedom of Information request from the Local Democracy Reporting Service found crews working in ambulances made 469 reports of anxiety, stress depression or other psychiatric illnesses last year. The rest were made by other staff employed by the service.

This figure was up from 390 the previous year, and accounted for 8.3% of all sickness reports made.

The service operates across 110 sites across the county, as well as Sussex, Surrey and north east Hampshire.

A spokesman for the service said: "We take staff welfare extremely seriously and are committed to ensuring that staff have the right support they need to manage their mental health.

"Our dedicated Wellbeing Hub, which has been in place since 2018, brought a wide range of support, including access to assessments and wide range of treatment pathways if appropriate, under one umbrella to make it more accessible.

"Staff also have access to well-established official peer-to-peer support and can speak to our own team of mental health specialists in confidence.

“Working for the ambulance service is challenging and we recognise that this year in particular has been particularly difficult for staff.

"We encourage staff talk about their mental health and be willing to report any concerns they have and seek assistance.

"We will listen to staff and make sure that, whatever their job role, they are given the support they need.”

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