Tyne and Wear leading the way on mental health support for firefighters

Firefighters across the country should be getting the mental health support that Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue offers its crews.

That's according to some of the most senior fire chiefs, speaking at a conference in Gateshead today.

The conference has heard that more than 4 in 5 firefighters have had poor mental health at work - and more than 1 in 4 have considered suicide.

That's something Faye McGuinness, director of Mind's Blue Light programme, supporting emergency services workers, says underlines everything they do:

"Things like the Grenfell Tower fire bring into the spotlight the absolutely difficult and tough jobs that our firefighters do - and they're often doing that on a daily basis.

"Their focus is always on how they can save people and support people in the community, so it's really important that we have programmes like the Blue Light programme that actually look at them and make sure their mental health is a priority."

Steve Malley, lead for Tyne and Wear's trauma support programme, said:

"We have been very keen, as a service, to promote a national dialogue. We have national standards when it comes to swift water rescue and how we tackle high rise fires - but there traditionally hasn't been a national dialogue for how we look after our people."