Nursing union expects stress levels to decrease

The head of Guernsey's largest nursing union has said he expects the stress levels of staff at the island's hospital to start improving.

Government statistics show 161 people working in health and social care were off work during 2022 with stress.

This compares with 178 in 2021 and 168 in 2020.

The figures include frontline nursing staff, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and pharmacists.

Nick Dove, branch chair of the Royal College of Nursing, said: "It's quite a large number.

"It has been very stressful - we've had Covid... followed by low staffing, which we do as much as we can about".

He added that "pay issues had been resolved" and though he was "not totally surprised" at the figures, he would "expect them to go down" going forward.

Mr Dove added that "IT systems" were also source of stress for union members.