The number of days lost to stress-related illnesses among nurses, doctors and consultants at West Suffolk Hospital has soared since 2010, with a union blaming the rise on increasing demands on staff time.

From 2010 to 2014 the number of nursing days lost at the Bury St Edmunds hospital jumped from 1,946 to 2,794 while for doctors it jumped from zero to 85.

Jeff Keighley, regional organiser for UNISON, said: “It is no surprise that you see staff burnout, the numbers of staff, and correctly qualified staff, at the hospital have not kept up with rising demand for the services.

“The government have tried to take money out of the NHS every year since they came to power. It is inevitable that stress levels increase.”

Mr Keighley said the problem was not isolated to west Suffolk, with staff across the region experiencing similar issues.

He added: “When you have staff prepared to take industrial action, not only over pay but over conditions and quality of care, you know something is not working.”

He pointed to the recent pay disputes as evidence staff satisfaction was falling, but did say that the “awful practice” of downgrading staff pay levels was “thankfully” not prevalent at West Suffolk Hospital.

The figures were published by West Suffolk Hospital, with the full data for 2014/15 financial year not yet available.

However, the data does show an upwards trend over the last three years, with the incomplete figures still showing days lost by doctors nearly doubling since 2013/14.

Jan Bloomfield, executive director of workforce and communications at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, said the hospital valued their staff, and worked to help those suffering from stress.

“Our staff are our greatest asset and we are committed to protecting their health, safety and wellbeing,” she said.

“As such, we offer a wide range of help to those suffering with stress, and are among the best performing trusts in the country for incidents of work-related stress.

“We have a comprehensive stress management policy in place, which details the steps we take to reduce pressure at work such as carrying out risk assessments and making appropriate adjustments. We also offer counselling, while our staff are able to access 24/7 support from Care First.”

The health watchdog, Healthwatch Suffolk, warned that the rising stress-related absences should be monitored closely, claiming it could have a knock on effect for patient care.

Dr Tony Rollo, chair of Healthwatch Suffolk said: “As the independent health and social care champion for people in Suffolk, our interest is in ensuring that the hospital is providing good quality services for patients.

“We know that staff and patient experience are often linked and would encourage the hospital to monitor this.”