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Publication, Part of

NHS Sickness Absence Rates, August 2021, Provisional Statistics

Official statistics

Publication Date:
6 Jan 2022
Geographic Coverage:
England
Geographical Granularity:
NHS Trusts, Hospital Trusts, Ambulance Trusts, Mental Health Trusts, Regions, Clinical Commissioning Groups
Date Range:
30 Apr 2009 to 31 Aug 2021

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NHS Sickness Absence Rates, August 2021, Provisional Statistics

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Classification of Statistics
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Summary

NHS Sickness Absence Rates, August 2021, Provisional Statistics

Highlights

Key Facts

Tables 1-4 (Monthly Sickness Absence Rates by NHS England region, Staff Group, Organisation Type and Organisation) from the quarterly Sickness Absence reports are published on a monthly basis on the same day as the Monthly workforce publication. This is to enable the data in these publications to be available on a more frequent and timely basis.

NHS Absence rates in August 2021

The overall sickness absence rate for England was 5.1%. This is the same as in July 2021 (5.1%) and higher than August 2020 (3.9%).

Regional and organisational type variation

The North West region reported the highest sickness absence rate in August 2021 at 6.2%, this is slightly higher than their rate in July 2021 (6.1%). The London region and the South East of England region reported the lowest sickness absence rate in August 2021 at 4.5%, this is slightly higher than their rates in July 2021 (4.3% and 4.5% respectively).

Ambulance Trusts had the highest sickness absence rate at 8.1% in August 2021, this is higher than July 2021 (7.6%). Commissioning Support Units had the lowest sickness absence rate at 2.4%, remaining relatively unchanged since July 2021 (2.5%).

Staff group differences

Support to ambulance staff reported the highest sickness absence rate in August 2021 at 9.4%. Ambulance staff reported the second highest sickness absence rate in August 2021 at 7.5%.

Foundation Doctor Year 1 reported the lowest rate at 0.9% in August 2021.

Reason for sickness absence

Anxiety/stress/depression/other psychiatric illnesses is consistently the most reported reason for sickness absence, accounting for over 566,000 full time equivalent days lost and 27.8% of all sickness absence in August 2021. This remains unchanged since July 2021 (27.8%).

Last edited: 5 January 2022 9:46 am