Rising levels of staff sickness at Shropshire's community health trust cause concern
Rising levels of staff sickness at a community NHS trust in Shropshire are causing concern to chiefs.
Sickness absences across the Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust (Shropcom) have been edging up every month for nearly a year, with the most recent figures revealing more than one in 20 (5.7 per cent) of the workforce away with long- or short-term issues.
The organisation’s 1,600-strong workforce includes staff at community hospitals and centres across Shropshire.
Members of the Shropcom board heard at a meeting on Thursday (February 5) that the NHS remains under huge pressure. Leaders praised staff for their commitment during the winter period.
Rhia Boyode, Shropcom's chief people officer, told the board that the main issues are “stress, anxiety and depression conditions”.
The trust has a target to have no more than 4.75 per cent of its workforce off sick and the board was told that it has been rising ‘slightly’ for every month.
The meeting at Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury was told that Shropcom has had to draft in ‘slightly’ more agency and bank staff cover to fill the gaps.
Chiefs are forecasting that Shropcom will spend around £1.5 million more than planned on agency and bank staff by the end of the financial year, with one of the reasons being to cover for sickness absence. It also had around 122 job vacancies.
Trust leaders are continuing to encourage staff to take the flu vaccine and giving support to managers and employees.
A ‘deep dive’ into the causes of neck, shoulder and back pain is being carried out by physiotherapists to develop videos to help prevent those issues.
Officials at the trust are preparing to launch a campaign later this year to encourage individuals to take their regular breaks among ways to look after their health and wellbeing.
Chiefs are also raising awareness of the benefits of flexible working and making sure that staff plan and book their annual leave.
Board papers also report that “at present there is no assurance that short-term absence, which has increased, is being managed in line with the managing attendance policy”.
“This is a key action area for our teams to monitor compliance and provide support to managers in maintaining compliance with our policy.”
