NHS staff in Glasgow have taken almost 30,000 days off sick due to stress in just three months this year, new figures show.

The number of absences caused by anxiety and depression has soared by almost a quarter in three years across NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

According to figures released by Scottish Labour, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde lost at least 29,701 days, from April to June, due to mental health problems. The absence rate increased by 24.5% from 2015/16 to 2017/18 from 99,222 days to 123,507.

A spokeswoman for the health board said "all managers and senior nurses" were working to ensure staff are, “motivated and content.”

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In Scotland, between 2015/16 and 2017/18, the number of stress-led staff absences increased by 17.6 per cent.

Scottish Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, Monica Lennon MSP, blamed a “staffing crisis” for the increase.

She said: “It’s obvious that people working in the NHS are being pushed to the limit, often delivering high levels of care to the detriment of their own health and wellbeing.”

Matt McLaughlin, Head of Health for Unison, urged politicians to "work together" to ease the burden on staff.

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He said: ”These statistics confirm everything that unison has been saying about the pressure within our NHS.

“ NHS workers won’t welcome being used as a political football.

“It’s time Labour and the SNP worked on agreeing how to make the NHS a better place to work, as opposed to the current political point scoring.”

The Evening Times revealed earlier this week that staff absence rates this Summer were the highest on record.

A board spokeswoman said: “All managers/senior nurses are working with staff to ensure a motivated and contented workforce and taking steps to ensure we keep people in work and get those who are off sick to return as soon as practicable eg by referring staff to Occupational Health for the help and support they need.

“NHSGGC provides its staff with a comprehensive Occupational Health Service, which carries out around 6,000 management referrals per year.

“Most of the staff who are deemed to be within this category have mild to moderate mental health issues that are generally self limiting and most will respond well to support such as counselling.