Shropshire NHS sickness rate crackdown launch
A crackdown on staff sickness levels has been launched by bosses at Shropshire's NHS Trust, after new figures showed hundreds of workers were off each day.
The average absence rate at the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Hospital Trust is 4.69 per cent, more than half a per cent over the national average.
It means 234 members of the Trust's 5,000-plus staff are off on an average working day.
A spokeswoman for the Trust said tackling staff sickness was a key priority for the year ahead.
Workforce director Victoria Maher said she wanted to see the rate brought down below four per cent.
Staff are being fast-tracked into physiotherapy and counselling sessions while health workshops have also been introduced.
Mrs Maher said: "We know staff sickness levels are higher than we would want to see, and we are making determined efforts to tackle the issue.
"Reducing staff sickness levels and improving health and wellbeing is one our key priorities for the year ahead."
Research carried out by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy found that too many NHS trusts in England were failing to implement key recommendations made in 2009 to reduce staff sickness absence.
Mrs Maher added: "Along with other NHS trusts in the country, we have worked with NHS employers to assess what we are doing to address the recommendations of the Boorman Review into health and wellbeing of staff within the NHS."
Between April 1 last year and January 31 this year, the Trust recorded 6,592 'episodes' of sickness absence.