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LABOUR announced plans yesterday to ensure that help is available to 3.1 million NHS and care workers, including those whose jobs have been handed to the private sector such as porters and cleaners.
The Care for Carers plan was announced Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP, Labour’s shadow mental health minister.
The plan includes:
• A new national hotline available 24 hours a day, seven days a week
• Follow-up support, including specialist assessments and referrals
• Intervention and treatment, including specialised post-traumatic stress disorder support
• Follow-up and guidance to external services, such as alcohol and addiction services.
Dr Allin-Khan said: “In some areas, nurses can wait for a year for an appointment.
“The current Covid-19 support hotline offers emotional support and signposting, but does not lead on to psychological therapies.”
Labour is also calling for the government to appoint a new independent national wellbeing guardian to co-ordinate and oversee the support, and to hold the government and NHS employers to account.
Dr Allin-Khan said that last year the NHS lost almost five million working days due to mental health problems and that stress was estimated to account for over 30 per cent of NHS staff absence, at a cost of up to £400 million a year.
The British Medical Association says 41 per cent of doctors suffer with depression, anxiety, stress and other work-related mental health conditions.
Dr Allin-Khan said: “Even before the pandemic hit, the case for investing in this kind of support was clear. Coronavirus has exacerbated the existing crisis.
“We need to care for our carers. It is time for the government to give back to those who have sacrificed so much to keep our loved ones safe.
“Unless our staff are protected, they cannot continue their vital work of keeping us all safe.”
GMB national secretary Rehana Azam welcomed the proposal.
“GMB is pleased that Labour have recognised the mental health crisis our workers face and hope the government recognise this and look seriously at these proposals.
“Our NHS and social care workforce are the very people who have kept us safe during this pandemic. We owe it to them to make sure they get the support they need.”
