Health survey results 'shocking'
Tuesday, 03 June, 2008
Serious ill-health issues identified
The Police Superintendents' Association of England and Wales has joined calls for improvements to be made to the work-life balance of all officers facing increased pressures and ill health as a result.
Concerns have been raised that officers working under undue pressure do not make sound judgements and therefore offer a potentially reduced service to the public.
The Association recognised this danger some time ago and has undertaken a significant campaign of work to redress the balance, highlight the dangers of a long hours culture, increased spans of command and unreasonable demands from chief officers.
In September, the Association's Command Resilience Group will launch a toolkit for members aimed at helping them identify and cope with symptoms of stress, improve their work-life balance, enhance their physical and mental well-being and challenge unacceptable work practices.
The Group's Chairman, Superintendent Robin Jarman, said, "Like our colleagues in the Federation, we have identified a number of concerns among our members regarding poor work-life balance, increased pressures of work and subsequent ill-health.
"We have conducted a number of medical health surveys among our members and the results have been shocking. The Service is losing talented officers through serious ill-health issues caused by their working conditions, something which should be preventable.
"We have acknowledged that action needs to be taken to improve the situation and that is why we are keen to launch our toolkit for members at our Conference in the Autumn.
"There are serious implications for the Police Service and the public if we do not address these issues and we join the calls made today by Chief Inspectors and Inspectors for Chief Officers to listen to the concerns of frontline managers.
"It is time for police forces to take stock of the situation and put in place some serious measures to tackle our concerns and improve the health and morale of officers - and ensure the best possible service to our communities."
