Staff sick days cost the NHS almost £18m

Sick days taken by health workers in the Black Country and Staffordshire cost the NHS millions of pounds last year.

Hospital bosses have vowed to clamp down on sickness absence, which is far higher in the public sector than in the private.

The cost of the sick days, which includes pay and national insurance contributions, was around £17,657,787.

That was for staff at for hospital and primary care trusts — which run GP surgeries and drop-in clinics — in 2009/2010.

A total of 96,026 sick days were taken at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, an average of 14 for each of its 6,400 workers.

At Sandwell Primary Care Trust there were 17,406 sick days taken at a cost of £1,837,129, an average of 11 for each of the 1,458 workers.

The 3,257 full-time equivalent staff at the Dudley Group of Hospitals took 45,997 sick days costing around £4.1m.

Chief executive Paula Clark said the trust was committed to reducing the sickness rate. Meanwhile staff at Dudley PCT took 16,370 sick days costing the trust almost £1.5m.

In 2009, 19,945 days were lost due to staff sickness at Wolverhampton PCT, costing £2,171,181. Spokesman Susan Turner said a series of "health initiatives" including advice on diet and stress had been launched to tackle the problem.

At the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust, there were 14,511 days lost to sickness. Spokesman Samantha Turner said: "We have plans in place to handle both short term and long term sickness and work closely with our occupational health department to manage sickness absence."

There were 46,082 sick days taken at Walsall NHS Hospital Trust, an average of 18 for each of the 2,535 full time equivalent staff. No figures were available for Walsall PCT.

The cost of sickness absence at South Staffordshire PCT, which has just over 2,000 workers, was £2,255,654. There were a total of 34,168 sick days taken. No figures were available for Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.