Tens of thousands of NHS hospital staff are missing work each day because of sickness, putting further strain on an already pressurised healthcare system.
In the seven days to 25 December, an average of 63,296 workers were off sick each day across NHS acute hospitals, according to the latest health figures published by NHS England. This is a 4% increase on the previous week’s figures, when 60,583 were off sick.
Although the figures do not state the reason for staff sickness, Covid-19 accounted for 13% of all absences in the week to 25 December. On average 8,029 workers were off each day because of coronavirus.
The analysis comes as the NHS faces intense pressure “equivalent” to the Covid pandemic, according to a health official. Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, credited staff shortages, lack of investment, a worn-out workforce and a backlog of operations are all contributing to the pressure, as well as Covid and flu cases. The government has been urged to declare a national major incident.
This winter has seen flu cases surge across the country. Last month (December) the number of patients in hospital with flu in England “skyrocketed” with admissions overtaking those for Covid earlier in the month.
Regionally, the Midlands had the greatest number of staff off sick with more than 13,000. This was followed by North East and Yorkshire and the North West with 12,000. The East of England had the lowest daily average of absences with 5,000, followed by the South West with 6,000.
Here we reveal the NHS hospitals in Merseyside with the greatest daily average number of staff sickness absences in the seven days to 25 December.