High NHS sickness rates revealed
Updated on 19 August 2009
A study claims patient care in the NHS is affected by high rates of sickness among workers.
An independent review commissioned by the department of health found NHS workers in England take an average 10.7 days off sick every year, compared with an average of 9.7 days off workers in the public sector and 6.4 days in the private sector.
The report claims the NHS, which was recently lauded in the Twitter #welovetheNHS campaign, loses 10.3 million working days annually due to sickness absence alone, costing £1.7bn per year.
It says: "A reduction of a third would mean an extra 3.4 million working days a year, and annual direct cost savings of £555m."
The report found that while many NHS workers drink in moderation, more than one in five of them smokes, including heavy and casual smokers.
Only around half of NHS staff exercise on three days or more each week.
When it comes to staff sickness, the review found that those who worked more than eight hours a day had higher rates, as well as those who felt pressure to return to work.
Women were more likely to report in sick, alongside those who had worked for the NHS for a long time.
The review found that while NHS workers were more likely to pick up illness and infections through their work, this could not explain all of the higher rates of absence.
It said: "Nearly half of all NHS staff absence is accounted for by musculoskeletal disorders, and more than a quarter by stress, depression and anxiety."
It went on: "Most staff believe that their state of health affects patient care."
More than half of the 11,000-plus members of staff who contributed to the study said they felt more stressed than usual at the time of completing the survey.
