Figures reveal scale of NHS Covid staff shortages in West Midlands

At another trust in the region Covid-related absences rose more than 150 per cent in a week.

Covid was the reason behind more than half of staff absences at the Royal Wolverhampton Trust on December 26.

NHS England data shows 651 staff at the trust, which runs New Cross Hospital and Cannock Chase Hospital, were off sick – of which 353 had Covid-19 or were self-isolating due to the virus.

The trust has about 11,000 staff overall.

And Covid-related staff absences rose sharply at The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust.

Of the 285 staff off sick on December 26, 173 were off because of Covid. A week before there were 67 Covid-related absences.

A Covid update report due to be discussed by the board of directors at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust yesterday said it had seen “significant” staff absences.

NHS England data shows that the region’s hospitals were caring for more than 460 coronavirus patients as of Tuesday last week.

And the virus has been the reason behind large numbers of NHS workers self-isolating and being unable to go to work.

A quarter of the absences at both Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust on Boxing Day were related to Covid.

It also caused dozens of workers at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust to be off sick.

NHS England’s medical director, Stephen Powis, said health services are on “a war footing”, with Covid-related staff absences more than doubling in a fortnight.

NHS data shows 632 staff at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust were off sick on December 26.

Of them, 157 were off because they had Covid-19, or were self-isolating due to the virus – a 34 per cent increase on a week before, when 117 Covid-related absences were recorded.

Liam Kennedy, chief operating officer at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, addressed the challenges in a recent report to the trust’s board.

He said: “The changes to isolation rules for the general public and our staff have been clarified and communicated to our staff to optimise staff attendance. We have seen significant staff absences in some departments due to either positive swab results or the need for isolation.

“Staffing due to this remains a challenge across the organisation. Risk assessments and quality impact assessments in place to enable us to work as safely as possible across the sites.”

Across England, the number of NHS staff off work due to Covid increased from 18,800 on December 19, to 24,600 on Boxing Day – a 31 per cent rise.

Professor Powis said new nurses and reservists were being recruited to deal with pressures, as Nightingale hubs are being set up across the country to tackle a surge in coronavirus patients.

He added: “We don’t yet know the full scale of rising omicron cases and how this will affect people needing NHS treatment, but having hit a ten-month high for the number of patients in hospital with Covid while wrestling with sharply increasing staff absences, we are doing everything possible to free up beds and get people home to their loved ones.”

Professor Powis added that keeping as many NHS staff as possible at work in the next few weeks would be essential.

People who receive negative lateral flow results on day six and day seven of their self-isolation period – with tests taken 24 hours apart – no longer have to stay indoors for a full 10 days.

But calls are growing on the Government to cut this further, after the US Government slashed the self-isolation period to five days for asymptomatic cases.

NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson said staff absences could pose a bigger challenge to the health service than patients needing treatment for the virus, with staff having to be redeployed to fill gaps.

The Government said while early evidence suggests the new coronavirus variant Omicron is less likely to cause serious illness than earlier waves, it stands ready to impose new measures in England if necessary.

England was the only country in the UK to have ruled out additional restrictions before the new year.