Huge savings could be made if the NHS could reduce the amount of sick leave taken by staff, which costs the service £1.7bn a year, a report says.
But the government-commissioned interim report, by occupational health expert Dr Steve Boorman, also reveals that many NHS staff struggle in to work when they feel unwell.
The Boorman report presents a picture of an NHS where staff fall sick not only because of the proximity of illness but also as a result of pressure and stress.
More days are lost through staff sickness in the NHS than elsewhere in the public sector - 10.3 million days a year, which is an average of around 10.7 days a year for each employee, compared to a public sector average of 9.7 days. The average in the private sector is 6.4 days a year.
Cutting sick leave even by a third could save the health service a substantial amount of money that could be spent on patient care, says the report. “A reduction of a third would mean an extra 3.4 million working days a year, and annual direct cost savings of over half a billion pounds (£555m).”
The highest rates of sickness were among those who worked hardest - more than eight hours a day.
Read more at The Guardian.
Tags: Sick leave
