A "crisis" in keeping and recruiting adult health employees such as social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists has sparked concern from a council watchdog.
Councillors raised the issue after they were told of an underspend of almost £1.4m on staffing in Durham County Council's adult and health services.
This was due to "effective management of vacancies", according to a council report.
Principal accountant Peter Dowkes said: "What jumps out to me is all the services are under budget on employees.
"I suppose it's down to recruitment and retention of staff, so it's just carrying vacancies and services, managing that recruitment process as best they can.
"I'm sure you'll appreciate vacancies aren't always easy."
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Councillor Olwyn Gunn asked about this at an adults, wellbeing and health scrutiny committee meeting this week.
She said: "It seems to me it will be having an impact upon staff employed by the council who are delivering those services.
"It can have an impact upon their wellbeing as well, if they're carrying the vacancies.
"That concerns me greatly and I think it's something we all should be concerned about.
"Carrying vacancies to me means effectively staff carrying more responsibility, carrying more work, carrying more pressure and stress.
"All staff have been carrying more responsibility and weight during the Covid period."
She said there had been difficulties for years and services had done their best to recruit.
She asked: "If this is a national issue, what is happening to address that?
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"As a politician, the first thing that comes to mind is lobbying.
"I'm sure that we have officers of the council who have conversations regularly with the key people, ministers and civil servants who are responsible for what appears to be a crisis.
"I'm calling it a crisis. I think it's been one that's been ongoing for some time, that this local authority has been trying to address for some time.
"Where is this going in terms of having any effect whatsoever on those people who can actually make the decisions?"
Committee chair Cllr Patricia Jopling said she previously brought up the issue of adult care social workers' workload and the stress of care plans.
She said she had been reassured new people were coming in.
"But apparently it isn't to do with funding," he said.
"It absolutely to do with... trying to recruit people.
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"I think everybody's been under stress in the health service from one end to the other.
"I do get where all this is coming from."
Michael Laing, director of integrated community services in the County Durham Care Partnership, said: "There is not a vacancy freeze, quite the opposite.
"We're not under pressure as operational managers from anybody in the local authority to say 'don't spend that money, hold the vacancies'.
"This is both a regional and a national issue about social work recruitment.
"We're working... to see where we can recruit.
"That area of learning disability, mental health is a particular pressure area because of the nature of the work."
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He said there had been difficulty recruiting psychologists and psychiatrists.
He added: "We are acutely aware of the pressure on staff.
"(We) have met with some of these teams and talked through with them, 'what has it been like for you working in a mental health service during Covid?'
"And the response has been 'very stressful' and we are helping people to cope with that stress using a trauma-informed approach.
"I can't see, to be perfectly frank, that position on recruitment and retention of mental health social workers getting any easier in the short term.
"In the long term it might. There isn't an easy answer to that."
He said Noel Scanlon, director of nursing in County Durham and Darlington, had raised the issues with NHS England's chief executive.
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