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Sickness absence rates of NHS staff in 2004

  • Document type:
    Statistical tables
  • Author:
    Information Centre for health and social care
  • Published date:
    26 May 2005
  • Primary audience:
    Professionals
  • Publication format:
    Electronic only
  • Gateway reference:
    2005
  • Pages:
    1
  • Copyright holder:
    Crown copyright

Survey of sickness absence rates of staff in NHS organisations, which is defined as a percentage of the amount of time lost through absences divided by the time available for directly employed NHS staff. The 2004 survey covers all Primary Care Trusts, other NHS Trusts, Strategic Health Authorities and Special Health Authorities.

Main findings

  • The national sickness absence level for 2004 is 4.6%.
  • The rates of sickness absence vary by trust type; for example, levels are considerably higher in ambulance trusts (6.2%) than in acute trusts (4.4%).  The rate for the relatively small number of staff in Strategic Health Authorities is lowest of all at 2.5%.

The 2003 figures are included here as further background.

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