THE man in charge of staff wellbeing at Wiltshire Police says he is concerned about a report which reveals almost a third of all officers suffer from extremely high levels of fatigue.

The annual national wellbeing survey published by Oscar Kilo showed 29 per cent of officers were affected, while they said they also felt less valued by the public.

Wiltshire Police wellbeing delivery manager Daniel Phillimore said: “The figures are concerning, there’s some positive ones, but particularly around fatigue, it was certainly concerning.

“As a former shift worker, I know how vital that area is for people’s welfare and their ability to be the best at home.

“The decrease in value by the public is also worrying, I’m not sure if Wiltshire Police feel that way but it’s certainly a concern.”

With it being a nationwide survey, Mr Phillimore gave potential reasons behind the data alongside steps Wiltshire Police will take going forward.

He said: “We need to make sure how applicable this is to Wiltshire.

“In terms of a national picture, it’s an issue, we’re dealing in unprecedented times with the pandemic.

“With massive changes in PPE and equipment, we had to change the way we worked. Items such as added visors, plastic aprons, gloves, plastic dividers being implemented, people having to work from home, these have been big changes.

“That applies to every single department in the force whether people working from home, or officers out in the force wearing protective equipment, all of our jobs have changed but we’ve still been under the same pressures, if not more.

“It would be sensible to think the pandemic has had an impact on people’s wellbeing.

“I need to carry out an internal audit of wellbeing within the different departments of Wiltshire Police.

“My first job would be to identify which areas are hit by that.

“We’ve also got programmes in place to make sure staff feel valued."

“We’ve got something in the pipeline called 1TeamActive which is a programme designed to help people engage with physical fitness and wellbeing, we’re getting people together at an event this September for an enjoyable day of relaxation and fitness.

“We’re looking at consultations on people’s shift patterns, there’s a lot going on to make sure people feel valued.

“The difficulty is in times like these, everyone’s under pressure, and we want to make sure the Wiltshire Police family feel valued and part of the family.

“It’s saddening to hear that officers don’t feel valued.

“That could be related to the pandemic, but it’s crucial that the public and the police force have a mutual relationship of trust and respect.”

While the survey highlighted some issues the police force will need to address in the future, Mr Fillimore did find positives within the report.

He said: “Police officers and police staff felt very highly valued by co-workers and supervisors.

“From my perspective, that’s really positive.

“Job satisfaction has remained pretty high for officers and staff, so that’s a big positive, especially over the past year and a half."

“There have been some challenges within the report but there have been some things which have been pretty heartening to see.”