55,000 working days lost at hospitals in Black Country and Staffordshire due to Covid-19

The British Medical Association says the figures – which show millions of days were lost nationally – demonstrate how the pandemic has affected a health service that was "woefully" short on staff before it even began.

NHS Digital data shows the equivalent of 536,135 full-time staff days were lost due to sickness at trusts across the region between March and December.

And 55,028 were because of Covid-19, with staff worst affected towards the beginning of the pandemic.

Around 2.5 million days were lost in the NHS across England due to the virus, giving an overall sickness absence rate of 4.7 per cent between March and December.

Dr David Wrigley, deputy chairman of the BMA, said: “We know the NHS went into the pandemic woefully short on staff and these worrying figures highlight how Covid-19 has made a severe workforce shortage even more desperate.

“Covid-related staff absences coupled with the significant negative impact on NHS staff mental health and wellbeing during the last year have meant more staff needing to take time off work, threatening the NHS’s very ability to provide essential services."

According to the figures, more than half a million days were lost across England due to stress, anxiety, depression, or other psychiatric illnesses in December – the highest of any month since the pandemic started.

Dr Wrigley said the wellbeing of "exhausted" NHS staff is paramount as they face the biggest backlog of care in history, or else he fears many will reduce their hours, retire early or leave the health service entirely.

NHS Providers, the membership organisation for trusts in England, said coronavirus and the usual winter pressure had a huge impact on staff, with hospitals still having to deal with the knock-on effects.

Deputy chief executive Saffron Cordery said the "remarkable" work of the NHS during this challenging period must not be taken for granted, and called for long-term support.

She added: “We urge the Government to ensure the NHS has the right levels of staff to build flexibility into the system by providing a fully costed and funded national workforce plan.

"This will help to relieve the pressure on staff, making it easier to cover sickness absences, while ensuring a manageable workload and a better work-life balance."

The NHS figures also show that support staff to doctors, nurses and midwives at the region's trusts were absent most often.

Between March and December, they were sick on a combined 193,413 days – 36 per cent of all staff absences.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it is investing £89 billion to support the "record number" of NHS staff working in England, and to help address patient backlogs.

A spokesman added: “We recognise the enormous pressure this pandemic has put on our heroic NHS and social care staff and we are funding dedicated mental health support, including a 24/7 helpline, to provide help to those who need it."

Ro Vaughan, the human resources director at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, said: “Preserving and protecting the health, safety and wellbeing of staff is priority at any time but particularly during a pandemic.

“Staff sickness is recorded as Covid-19 related due to either staff self-isolating with confirmed diagnosis of Covid-19; self-isolating with symptoms of Covid-19 and awaiting results or because they were shielding at home in line with Government guidance at the time.

“We have made a significant effort to support staff health and well-being with offerings of staff psychological support and emotional wellbeing as well as how to access staff Covid-19 testing.

“There has been a significant reduction in staff sickness during the two months.”