Health workers clocking up the sickies

More than 40 years were lost in sick days taken by NHS workers in Dudley in just 12 months, new figures have revealed.

Staff at NHS Dudley, which oversees health services in the borough, took 16,370 sickies costing the trust almost £1.5million.

This works out to an average of 13.6 days per each of the trust's 1,200 full-time equivalent staff.

Nurses and support staff took the most days off while managers and medical workers took the least between April 2009 and March 2010, a report to the trust board showed.

More people were off work between October and December 2009 than other months.

The trust said 16,370 full-time equivalent days were lost to sickness out of a possible 432,184 full-time equivalent in 2009/10. The number equates to 44 years.

A report to the trust board said the cost of the sickness absence, including pay and national insurance contributions, was estimated to be £1.459 million.

The absence rate of 3.79 per cent is one of the lowest in the region and bosses said it was on par with previous years.

Chief executive Sarah Dugan said: "We are delighted that our sickness figures are among the lowest in the region.

"We work hard to support our staff in the workplace to ensure they are healthy and happy as we recognise this leads to better patient care.

"I would like to thank all our staff for their dedication and continued support to improving the health and well being of Dudley borough residents." Earlier this year, it was revealed more than 280,000 sick days were taken by staff at councils in Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall in just nine months. The number equated to 765 years.

A total of 28,292 sick days were taken at Walsall Manor Hospital in 2008.

Figures released earlier this year showed employers took an average of 8.3 sick days in the public sector, compared to 5.8 in the private sector last year.

The cost of missed days to the UK economy was thought to be £16.8billion.