‘Brutalised and burnt out’ NHS hospital staff take 8m mental health sick days in five years

Staff shortages, treatment backlogs and the pandemic have contributed to hospital doctors and nurses taking almost 23,000 years off with mental health problems since 2017

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Doctors and nurses have spoken of feeling brutalised" and burnt out, amid an escalating mental health crisis that has seen hospital staff take more than 8m days off sick in the past five years.

Senior figures called for an urgent plan to plug staff shortages after data seen by the Observer revealed that sick leave related to mental health had increased each year since 2017, spiking through the pandemic.