Stress-related illnesses accounted for nearly a quarter of all working hours lost at NHS Tayside in the last 20 months.
Figures reveal that between 20% and 25% of the total hours lost for all sickness absence are attributed to anxiety, stress, depression or other psychiatric illnesses across three main departments at the health board from April 2012 to November 2013.
The statistics obtained under Freedom of Information legislation show staff in the medical and dental category were off with anxiety or stress for a total of 7,013 hours in 2012/13.
The same category of staff were off 5,041 hours for stress-related illnesses from April to November 2013.
For the same conditions in nursing and midwifery in 2012/13, 138,292 hours were lost, and a further 100,137 working hours were lost from April to November 2013.
In the allied health profession sector, which covers physiotherapists, dieticians, radiographers, paramedics, podiatry, prosthetic, and occupational therapy, 20.1% of the total lost working hours were due to stress, anxiety and depression in 2012/13, with the proportion for April to November 2013 coming in at 22.5% so far.
George Doherty, NHS Tayside director of human resources, said: “We recognise that having a healthy and effective workforce is key to delivering high quality healthcare.
“That is why we are working hard at minimising the impact absence has on the delivery of frontline services.
“NHS Tayside works closely with staff side representatives to tackle the impact of issues that may affect our employees’ mental health and wellbeing, whether these arise at home or in the workplace, and through our policies, training and provision of specialist services, like occupational health, support individuals who experience difficulties.
“A combination of these actions is contributing to an overall reduction in sickness absence in NHS Tayside.”
However, the Royal College of Nursing branded the stress-related absence level “deeply concerning”.
RCN professional officer Ros Shaw said: “The pressures on nursing and other healthcare staff are increasing, as they struggle to cope with caring for more and more patients, with increasingly complex conditions.
“Our own RCN Employment Survey for Scotland shows that workload and stress are the main personal concerns for nursing staff, ranked above all other concerns.
“Our survey also shows that over half of those nurses who responded (54%) work extra hours on every shift or on several shifts a week, most of which is unpaid.
“According to the NHS staff survey 2013, just one third of nurses and midwives (32%) say they can meet all the conflicting demands on their time at work.”
Ms Shaw said health boards have made some progress in protecting staff health and wellbeing, but she said more work needs to be done.
She went on: “Health boards need to listen to the concerns of their staff and take them seriously. Concrete measures, such as fully-resourced occupational health teams that operate to national standards and provide early support for staff who are too stressed to work, are also needed.”
Health economist and Dundee councillor Lesley Brennan said: “NHS staff are renowned for going that extra mile to help those in need.
“To minimise stress, more resources are needed to deal with increasing workloads.”
However, Professor Derek Bell, president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, urged caution when examining the figures.
He said: “Despite the pressures which can be experienced by medical teams, sickness levels within the medical workforce are generally quite low.
“The data needs to be interpreted with some caution, as it is likely that the number of doctors who were reported off sick due to anxiety, stress, depression or psychiatric illness represents only a small percentage of the actual medical workforce.”