Hospital Trust clarifies missed work figures
A HOSPITAL trust near Halton has clarified NHS figures which claimed doctors there missed more than 7,000 days due to stress last year.
Last month, the Weekly News reported using NHS Digital statistics that St Helens And Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust recorded the highest number of full time equivalent days lost through doctors taking time off due to stress since at least 2012, with 7,076 in 2016. The trust responded to the figures. A spokeswoman said: “In the article ‘Doctors miss 800 days due to job stress’ on June 15, 2017, it stated that St Helens And Knowsley Hospitals lost a total of 7,076 days due to medic sickness through stress.
“The reason for this very large number of days is that St Helens and Knowsley holds the contracts of employment for all of the trainee speciality doctors based in hospitals and GP practices throughout Merseyside and Cheshire.
“In this capacity, it also holds the records for all sickness and absence with this group of staff.
“The figure of 7,076 days therefore includes all doctors in a number of NHS organisations across the region, not just at Whiston and St Helens.
“The true figures for medic sickness during this time at Whiston And St Helens hospital was just 280 days.
“With over 400 doctors working between the two hospitals, the sickness rate is amongst the lowest in the region.” ●