Depression in Nursing Homes Statistics

Depression in nursing home statistics in the UK is a significant concern, with various studies highlighting its prevalence and impact on healthcare professionals. Cucumber Recruitment is a leading nursing agency; below, the team at Cucumber has curated some of the key stats surrounding the topic of depression in nursing homes:

Prevalence of Depression In Nursing Homes Statistics

General Cases: A meta-analysis reported that 22% of nurses experienced depression during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Severe Cases: In a survey of 2,600 UK nurses, 33% reported severe or extremely severe depression, anxiety, or stress.

Depression Levels: Approximately 28% of nurses studied experienced severe, moderate, or mild depression.

Impact on Work and Well-being

Sickness Absence: In 2023, nurses and health visitors in England took a total of 1,675,275 days off sick due to stress, anxiety, depression, and other psychiatric illnesses, averaging one week per nurse.

Presenteeism: A 2024 survey found that 85% of nurses worked at least once despite experiencing health issues such as stress, back pain, colds, anxiety, or depression.

Mental Health Support: As of May 2023, a third of mental health hubs established to support health and social care staff in England have closed, leaving an estimated one million workers without specialist help.

Student Nurses’ Mental Health

Consideration of Quitting: Nearly half of nursing students in England have considered quitting their degrees, citing financial difficulties and witnessing low morale and burnout among qualified nurses as primary reasons.

Comparative Data

General Population vs. Nurses: Nurses showed a significantly higher prevalence of depression and anxiety compared to the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Depression Among Patients

Prevalence of Depression: Up to 40% of care home residents meet the criteria for significant depression.

Incidence of Major Depression: Between 6–12% of care home residents develop major depression each year.

Persistent Depression: Among those already depressed, 45–63% continue to experience symptoms over time.

Underdiagnosis: Only 15–27% of depressed residents are identified by staff in UK care homes.

Additional Insights

Mental Health Deterioration: Almost two-thirds of nurses felt their mental health had deteriorated since the initial peak of the pandemic, expressing that national well-being support was inadequate.

Workforce Challenges: The COVID-19 pandemic increased pressure on an already strained nursing workforce in the UK, leading to heightened levels of stress, burnout, and fatigue.

These insights highlight the need for targeted mental health support and interventions within nursing roles across the UK to address and mitigate the high levels of depression and associated challenges.

Referenced Studies:

[1] PubMED Central

[2] SOM

[3] Sage Journals

[4] Wiley Online Library 

[5] RCN

[6] NCBI

[7] The Guardian

[8] The Guardian