Patients have been left “languishing on waiting lists” as NHS staff took a record eight million days off work last year with mental health issues such as anxiety and stress, up 42% since 2020. The Mail has the story.

Health bosses left patients “languishing on waiting lists” as they struggled to cope with rocketing absences due to sickness and industrial action.

Resident [junior] doctors will today cause more misery, cancellations and delays with another walkout in pursuit of a 26% pay rise.

The number of sick days taken by NHS staff due to poor mental health has soared by 42% since 2020 and comes amid wider concern about the nation’s approach to such issues.

The NHS in England lost 28 million days to staff sickness in 2025, up from 21 million in 2020 and higher than in any previous year, according to newly published data.

Of these, more than one in four – a record 7.9 million – were due to “anxiety/stress/depression/other psychiatric illnesses”.

Callum McGoldrick, investigations campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which analysed the NHS England sickness data, said: “Taxpayers will be utterly stunned by the sheer scale of working days lost within the NHS.

“While genuine illness is unavoidable, absence rates have soared to record highs year after year, costing the public billions and leaving patients languishing on record waiting lists.

“Hard-working Britons in the private sector, who foot the bill for the health service, will be asking why NHS management seems completely incapable of keeping its own workforce healthy and on the job.

“Health bosses must urgently get a grip on this crisis. Every day lost is a day that should have been spent cutting the backlog.”

The health service has lost 151.6 million days to sickness since records began in their current form in mid-2019, meaning 6% of all working days were lost to poor health – three times more than the average across all sectors.

Furthermore, the NHS lost 262,592 days to industrial action by resident doctors last year, with the British Medical Association marching its members out on strike in July, October and December.

From yesterday, new laws passed by the Government mean employees are entitled to sick pay from their first day in a job.

Read More: Patients Left “Languishing on Waiting Lists” as NHS Staff Take Record 8 Million Days Off for Anxiety and Stress