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Publication, Part of

NHS Sickness Absence Rates May 2021, Provisional Statistics

Official statistics

Publication Date:
30 Sep 2021
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 May 2021

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NHS Sickness Absence Rates May 2021, Provisional Statistics

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Classification of Statistics
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Summary

NHS Sickness Absence Rates May 2021, Provisional Statistics

Highlights

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 May 2021

The overall sickness absence rate for England was 4.3%. This is slightly higher than April 2021 (4.1%) and lower than May 2020 (4.7%).

Regional and organisational type variation

The North West region reported the highest sickness absence rate in May 2021 at 5.3%, this is slightly higher than their rate in April 2021 (5.0%). The London region reported the lowest sickness absence rate in May 2021 at 3.7%, this is slightly higher than their rate in April 2021 (3.5%).

Ambulance Trusts had the highest sickness absence rate at 6.5% in May 2021, this is slightly higher than April 2021 (6.2%). Commissioning Support Units had the lowest sickness absence rate at 2.2%, remaining relatively unchanged since April 2021 (2.1%).

Staff group differences

Support to ambulance staff reported the highest sickness absence rate in May 2021 at 7.6%. Hotel, property & estates staff reported the second highest sickness absence rate in May 2021 at 6.2%.

Core Training and Foundation Doctor Year 2 reported the lowest rate at 1.1% respectively in May 2021.

Reason for sickness absence

Anxiety/stress/depression/other psychiatric illnesses is consistently the most reported reason for sickness absence, accounting for over 493,000 full time equivalent days lost and 28.8% of all sickness absence in May 2021. This remains relatively unchanged since April 2021 (28.3%).

Key Facts

Last edited: 29 September 2021 4:10 pm