NHS staff sickness levels among highest in UK

Nursing ward staff take more sick days than most other public sector workers, the Healthcare Commission has reported.

According to the Commission’s latest report, an average of 16.8 days per ward staff member a year are lost to sickness, compared to 11.3 days for workers in seven of the other public sectors, including police, teachers and civil servants.

The NHS inspectorate said that sickness absence costs around £470 million and estimates that if sickness levels could be reduced by 30%, around £141 million could be saved.

Anna Walker, Chief Executive of the Commission, described the levels of absence among nursing staff as “extremely worrying”. “Whatever the reasons for them, nurses are far too important for us to ignore the problem,” she said.

Ms Walker said that the causes of absences were unclear, but possible factors included stress, job satisfaction, workload and the physical nature of the job.

The Healthcare Commission’s report also found that patients were generally satisfied with their level of nursing care, although there was “markedly higher satisfaction” in specialist trusts and lower satisfaction in London trusts.

However, the report also found that the higher the amount of temporary staff, the less satisfied patients were with their care. Patients also expressed dissatisfaction with the ability of nurses to answer their questions.

Ms Walker said: “The use of temporary staff across NHS hospital wards remains stubbornly high. Trusts need to focus on recruitment of permanent staff to reduce dependence on temporary staff. While labour market forces are important, we have found considerable variation in vacancy levels between trusts – even those within the same region. Some trusts are better at recruiting and retaining and it is important that good practice in this area is gathered and shared throughout the NHS.”

Commenting, on the report, Dr Beverly Malone, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said: “With such a high workload it is not surprising that so many nurses are sick due to stress.”

Dr Malone also said that recent research by the RCN showed that sickness among nurses was often caused by workplace injuries, such as severe back strain.

(KMcA/SP)