A national audit of National Health Service staff has revealed an unprecedented amount of absenteeism. The scale of sick leave, according to the NHS Staff Health and Well-being Review, is one-and-a-half times the rate of absence in the private sector.
It amounts to 45,000 staff being off sick every year and costs the NHS a staggering £1.5 billion annually.
The review, led by Steve Boorman, a former GP and chief medical advisor to Royal Mail, estimated that reducing overall sickness absence by a third would result in 3.4 million more working days available to the NHS each year – equivalent to 14,900 full-time staff and saving £555 million.
Obviously, with so many staff – the NHS is the biggest employer in Europe with a workforce of 1.3 million people – it is not surprising that large numbers are off sick every day. But what is surprising is the scale of sickness absence compared with other employers.
Why is the rate of sick leave so high? Are the staff really in such poor health? Or are there deeper reasons, such as stress, unhappiness and disillusionment? Are many just “taking a sickie” because they can’t face going into work that day?
One hospital trust, quoted in the review, actually admitted that its high sickness rates were due to work-related stress issues caused by excessive hours, restructuring, bullying and harassment. How widespread is this throughout the NHS?
Will the Department of Health’s plans to provide staff more time and opportunities to exercise and offer early access to physiotherapy and psychological counselling really reduce absenteeism? Will its proposed action to ensure NHS organisations “make use of the electronic staff record manager self-service sickness absence reports” (whatever they may be) really improve staff health?
Everyone – whatever their job – has days when they don’t feel at their best. If you feel valued, you are more likely to turn up for work regardless. If you feel demoralised, it is a perfect excuse to take a day off. Happy tends to equal healthy, just as healthy equals happy.
Of course, it is important that the NHS helps prevent its staff from becoming sick and having to take time off work. Of course, there are genuine cases of sickness and work-related injuries and it is only right that NHS staff should be put at the top of the agenda and given the quickest and best treatment to help them remain in or return swiftly to work.
The Department of Health must be congratulated on reacting so quickly and positively to the review, promising to implement all the recommendations. But, however well-intended, I doubt whether its actions will really improve the overall situation.
Health service staff, whatever their role, are overwhelmed with paperwork, targets and red tape. They feel undervalued, under pressure and under-rated.
They know better than most of us about the benefits of eating a balanced diet, not smoking, taking sufficient exercise and drinking alcohol in moderation. But this isn’t easy when you only have a snatched 15-minute break for lunch because of staff shortages; when you are so overworked that you are too exhausted to prepare and cook a healthy meal, let alone exercise at the end of the day; and when you are forced to work overtime on your day off to make ends meet.
It isn’t rocket science to introduce ways to improve staff morale and so decrease absenteeism. West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust, for example, has introduced a system of priority treatment referrals to a local physiotherapist for injured staff. In the first nine months of operating the system, 104 people were referred, the number of days lost to sickness absence was reduced by 40 per cent and the direct costs of musculoskeletal injuries to the trust were reduced by more than £170,000. This was done at a cost of £21,000.
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust set up a programme of physical and non-physical activities, social events and clubs, including a staff inter-departmental football tournament, supported by Cambridge United Football Club; Walk to Work, sponsored by Stagecoach and Cambridgeshire County Council; free stretch and Pilates classes and monthly de-stress days where, in partnership with Cambridge Regional College, staff can receive either a 20-minute manicure and hand massage or a relaxing back massage.
Its staff are the most important part of the health service. It is obvious, as Dr Boorman pointed out in his review, that when staff are in poor health, the care they give to patients declines.
But no amount of Government-inspired “robust health and wellbeing strategies” will make them feel valued and respected. And that is what they need to improve their health, from chief executives and managers to cleaners and porters. Not more jargon and bureaucracy and more directives from central Government forcing NHS organisations to sign up to the “Healthier Food Mark” and the “Business Healthcheck Tool”.
Is there really a need for a “Health and Wellbeing Policy team”? Haven’t NHS organisations got enough to do trying to meet Government targets, increase productivity, decrease spending and balance their books without trying to implement yet another action plan?
A total of £6.5 million has been allocated for “putting in place the national systems required to support the NHS to deliver a proposed action plan for implementing the recommendations”. Is this really good use of NHS money?
Every employer in the country – public or private – knows that the health and wellbeing of the workforce makes a major contribution to productivity. In the NHS, this equates to the delivery of high quality health care. NHS organisations should not need orders and instructions from the Department of Health on how to look after their staff. If they spent less time on directives and targets, perhaps they could concentrate on making the health of their staff a priority.
