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Publication, Part of

NHS Sickness Absence Rates, November 2021, Provisional Statistics

Official statistics

Publication Date:
31 Mar 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 30 Nov 2021

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NHS Sickness Absence Rates, November 2021, Provisional Statistics

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Classification of Statistics
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Summary

NHS Sickness Absence Rates, November 2021, Provisional Statistics

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 November 2021

The overall sickness absence rate for England was 5.6%. This is slightly lower than October 2021 (5.7%) and higher than November 2020 (4.9%).

Regional and organisational type variation

The North West region reported the highest sickness absence rate in November 2021 at 6.6%, this is slightly lower than their rate in October 2021 (6.7%). The London region reported the lowest sickness absence rate in November 2021 at 4.8%, this is slightly lower than their rate in October 2021 (4.9%).

Ambulance Trusts had the highest sickness absence rate at 8.1% in November 2021, this remains relatively unchanged since October 2021 (8.2%). Clinical Commissioning Groups and Commissioning Support Units had the lowest sickness absence rate at 3.2% each, remaining relatively unchanged since October 2021 (3.1% and 3.2% respectively).

Staff group differences

Support to ambulance staff reported the highest sickness absence rate in November 2021 at 9.4%. Support to doctors, nurses & midwives reported the second highest sickness absence rate in November 2021 at 7.8%.

Staff Grade reported the lowest rate at 0.8% in November 2021.

Reason for sickness absence

Anxiety/stress/depression/other psychiatric illnesses is consistently the most reported reason for sickness absence, accounting for over 561,800 full time equivalent days lost and 25.7% of all sickness absence in November 2021. This has increased slightly since October 2021 (25.1%).

Last edited: 31 March 2022 9:34 am