The latest NHS staff sickness absence rates released by the Health and Social Care Informatics Centre (HSCIC) show a decrease in overall sickness absence, falling to 4.44% in January 2014 from 4.72% in January 2013.
The data considers sickness absence rates and total days lost by staff group, Health Education England (HEE) region and organisation basing the data on a 365 day financial year as the NHS is constantly open to the public. The data reveals:
* Each staff group has shown reductions in sickness rate with the highest reduction being in qualified ambulance staff, to 6.94% from 7.57%.
* The lowest staff sickness rate of any group were medical and dental staff at 1.33%, decreasing from 1.42%.
* At 3.57%, North Central and East London has the lowest regional sickness absence, while both the North East and North West have the highest at 5.09%.
NHS Employers calculates that the cost of sickness absence is £1.65 billion; however the 0.28% reduction saves the NHS £97.8 million, equivalent to 859,424 days and 3820 FTE.
