Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
£3MILLION COST OF PRISON SICK LEAVE IN ULSTER
Report finds staff suffer post-traumatic stress
SICKNESS absence has cost the Prison Service more than £3million annually for the last three years, a report said.
A review ordered by Justice Minister Naomi Long found a significant number of staff suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder yet some support services were relatively under-used.
Some older staff were concerned about speaking out about mental health.
During the year to March, 988 absences were recorded. The report said: “There is also the clear issue of the current direct cost of sickness absence being in excess of £3million per year for the last three years [this does not include cost of backfill for sickness absence].
“The days lost to sickness absence should significantly reduce if much earlier interventions are made and the investment is made at the front end of the process.
“A short-term investment for longer-term gain must be considered.”
A total of 197 staff suffered stressrelated absences during the financial year to March.
Most involved non-work related stress, followed by stress in the workplace. The report noted issues about raising concerns about one’s own mental health.
It said those longer in service found it harder to speak out than newer recruits.
The findings added mental health issues were not treated in the same way as physical injuries and raised concern over the issuing of warnings to staff off sick which used the expression “inefficiency”.
The report said the expenditure in the support of mental health provision for staff in NIPS is low given that the opening budget for the service in 2020/21 is £105,995,000, and the staffing budget is £74.123 million.
It added: “It has been confirmed the scope within current NIPS budget provision is extremely limited.”
The report said the notable rise in numbers being medically retired and the associated cost should be read in the context that this level of spend could be channelled, and hopefully decreased, with early interventions for serving NIPS staff. Ms Long said she was committed to delivering measures to enhance support for serving and retired prison staff.
She commissioned the review to ascertain if there is more that could or should be done to help frontline staff.
The minister added it was hard to disagree with any of the recommendations in any of the two resulting reports.
Ms Long said: “I share the view that the lack of bespoke support available for former prison officers, when compared to that available to former members of the police through the Police Rehabilitation and Retraining Trust, is a glaring omission. “This is something that must and will be addressed.
“However, we should not underestimate the scale of the challenge we will face in addressing the needs of former staff and it will take considerable time to do so.”