Yahoo News Number of NHS staff in England off due to Covid doubles in fortnight
Sharp rise in sickness among health workers leads NHS Confederation chief to warn of ‘perfect storm’
The number of NHS staff in England off work or isolating due to Covid has doubled over the last two weeks amid Omicron’s rapid spread, figures reveal.
On Boxing Day, a total of 24,632 personnel in acute NHS trusts were absent because they were sick or quarantining as a direct result of either the Delta or Omicron variant.
That was more than double the 12,240 who could not work for that reason on Sunday 12 December and 31% up on the 18,829 recorded on the Sunday before Christmas, 19 December.
The total number of NHS staff days lost because of Covid-related absence also increased sharply in the runup to the Christmas weekend – rising from 124,855 days in the week up until 19 December, to 176,914 in the seven days that ended on Boxing Day, the figures released on Friday show.
The Liberal Democrats said that staff absence because of Covid at a time when the NHS is under such huge pressure was so worrying that Boris Johnson should convene a Cobra meeting to look into possible solutions.
“Today’s figures confirm the worst: hospital and ambulance services are stretched to breaking point under the weight of devastating Covid staff absences, just as the government was warned”, said Daisy Cooper, the party’s health spokesperson.
“It really is now or never for the government to get a handle on a crisis that is quickly spiralling beyond their control. Boris Johnson must call a Cobra meeting without delay to thrash out a comprehensive rescue plan.”
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The surge in staff sickness led Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, to warn that “the NHS is facing a perfect storm of Covid hospital admissions and illness rising at a very alarming rate alongside increasing numbers of frontline workers being off sick”.
On Sunday, the Midlands had the largest number of staff off as a result of Covid (4,812), followed by London (4,580), the north-east and Yorkshire (4,179) and the north-west (3,966).
NHS England’s latest “winter sitreps” data also showed that in all, 68,082 staff were off work at acute trusts on Boxing Day for sickness of any kind, which includes colds, flu and mental health problems as well as Covid. That was up 6% on the week before and 20% on two weeks earlier.
Manchester University hospitals NHS trust had the most all-cause absences (2,407), followed by Sheffield teaching hospitals (2,093) and Nottingham University hospitals (1,982).
Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, said the “worrying spike” in staff absence “is the biggest immediate challenge for trusts as they deal with the surge in micron cases together with continuing pressures on emergency care, urgent planned care that cannot be delayed any longer and the ongoing vaccination programme”.
Taylor urged the public to behave responsibly, pointing to the 189,213 new cases of Covid across the UK and 2,082 new hospital admissions in England announced on Thursday. “While the government seems determined not to increase restrictions in England it is vital we all behave in ways that will not exacerbate an already dangerous situation”, he said.
The British Medical Association renewed its plea to the prime minister to introduce new curbs in England to minimise Omicron’s impact, including cancellation of large social gatherings, limits on social mixing and reduced contact between households.
“With Omicron now spreading so rapidly in the community, and daily cases nearing 200,000, the pressure this is placing on the NHS, through staff absences and rising hospitalisations, is becoming unsustainable”, said Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the BMA’s chair of council.
“Further public health measures are needed urgently to prevent the health service becoming completely overwhelmed, and today’s figures are further evidence why this is needed now”.
Almost one in eight frontline ambulance staff in Wales are off sick or isolating because of Covid, with the numbers expected to continue to grow over the next week or so.
Jason Killens, the chief executive of the Welsh ambulance services NHS trust, said that 322 people were off because of Covid – about 12% of frontline staff. Adding in “normal” sickness absenteeism, the number off rises to around 17%.
Killens said: “We are starting to feel the pinch because of the absence rate. We are expecting that to grow over the next 10 days.”
More armed services personnel are joining the ambulance service in January, bringing the number driving on the frontline up to around 250, with more doing backroom roles.
Killens said the service had its highest numbers of referrals from the NHS 111 service on Monday and Tuesday. The pressure iwas increased by delays in patients being admitted, leading to queues of ambulances at hospital A&E departments.
“We expect it to get very challenging in the next 10-14 days,” Killens said. “Some patients are waiting much longer than we would like.”
Hopson added: “It will be particularly important in the coming days to look out for evidence of severe Covid-19 symptoms affecting older, vulnerable patients and impacting on critical care, as we saw earlier in the year. We haven’t seen that on a major scale yet but it still could arrive.”
He and the BMA asked ministers to ensure that NHS staff have easy access to tests to diagnose if they have Covid or not amid ongoing shortages of both PCR and lateral flow tests.
The BMA and Royal College of Nursing are also demanding that frontline personnel have access to the best possible personal protective equipment, including FFP3 masks.
