POLICE officers in Gwent suffering stress-related illnesses have been off duty for the equivalent of 18 years since 2009.

In two years, stress accounted for Gwent Police officers being off work for a total of 6,649 days.

In 2010/11, 3,178 days were lost due to stress-related illnesses – equivalent to just over eight-and-a-half years.

This was down slightly on the 2009/10 figure, 3,471 days, or nine-and-a-half years.

At present, there are 14 officer off-duty due to stress.

Figures released by Gwent Police under the Freedom of Information Act show 47 officers were off through stressrelated illnesses in 2010/11.

In the previous financial year, there were 42 officers signed off with similar illnesses.

The force employs XXX officers Since 2009, the longest period of time a single officer had to take off work due to stress was 380 days, just over a year.

Gwent Police has policies in place to try to identify and tackle causes of stress in the workplace and said the force encourages people to seek help if they think they need it.

The Occupational Health Unit is available to all employees at Gwent Police and part of its remit includes offering advice, sick visits and plans for returning to work and counselling.

Staff who deal with crimes such as child or domestic abuse have regular reviews and the force’s welfare staff can arrange professional help if it is needed.

A spokeswoman said: “We are committed to protecting the health, safety and welfare of our employees and recognise that workplace stress is a health and safety issue.

“It should be remembered however that the majority of the absence due to stress is related to non-work events, such as domestic/financial and bereavement.”