Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:30 pm on 23 May 2018.
Occupational therapists, of course, are not only performing an important role in the community for the wider population, but they can also offer a service that is an occupational health-related service for the people who work for the Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board. One of the things that has been very concerning in recent days is to see reports of a 17 per cent increase in the number of staff days of absence in relation to stress-related sickness—almost 77,000 days last year, costing over £5 million. What support are you putting in place for front-line staff in our national health service in places like north Wales, where they do feel as though they're firefighting because of the pressure on resources and because of the significant number of vacancies that are now appearing, not just in our nursing ranks but in some of the other ranks too?