Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Accepted
NHS staff absence rates significantly impacted by pandemic, affecting overall productivity.
Conclusion
The pandemic has also had an impact on NHS staff absence rates. NHS England pointed to mental health conditions and anxiety, musculoskeletal conditions and respiratory conditions that were affecting NHS staff.14 We asked whether NHS England has a percentage measure to assess how far staff sickness impacts on NHS productivity, and it told us that any reason for staff being off sick would have an impact on their ability to care for patients.15
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's finding, stating that the NHS is making progress in recovering lost productivity and reducing staff absences through ongoing efforts, the Long Term Workforce Plan, and incentive schemes, with a target implementation date of April 2024.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
1.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: April 2024 1.2 Despite challenges arising from industrial actions and winter pressures, the NHS is making progress to recover the lost productivity as result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest analysis by the Office for National Statistics, the UK’s official statistical body, indicate that this fall may have been entirely recovered, with growth in 2021 of between 22.2% and 30.9%. Part of the challenge the NHS has faced is that patients being treated are now more complex than pre-COVID. The higher than pre-COVID level of sickness absence level is another of the factors, affecting workforce productivity in recent years, although the trend is now declining. The current measurement of productivity also does not fully capture the full range of activities and innovations the sector is delivering, such as expansions of out of hospital care, and is currently being reviewed. 1.3 However, there will always be more opportunity to improve, which is why a key component of the recovery plans for Urgent and Emergency Care and Primary Care and the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan is improving elements of productivity, including reducing staff absences and improving processes. 1.4 Demand for health services is linked both to the number of people the health service is looking after and to the age of the population. As people get older, they develop more long-term medical conditions and need more health care. Independent analysis shows that funding growth adjusted for inflation has been 1-2% in real teams, which is below all estimates of the level required to maintain or improve performance. 1.5 NHS England has encouraged providers to achieve even better performance over the second half of 2023 and launched an incentive scheme for those providers with a Type 1 A&E department to overachieve on their planned performance in return for receiving a share of a £150 million capital fund in 2024-25. 1.6 NHS England will elaborate on the understanding of the factors impacting productivity and plans to address these in its letter to the Committee. .