Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 26
26
Acknowledged
Elevated NHS staff absence rates persist post-pandemic, driven by musculoskeletal, respiratory, and mental health issues.
Conclusion
We asked about the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, since absence rates in the NHS workforce have remained higher since the start of the pandemic than the 61 Committee of Public Accounts, Sustainability and transformation in the NHS, Twenty-Ninth report of Session 2017–19, HC 793, 27 March 2018; Committee of Public Accounts, Introducing integrated care systems, Thirty- Fifth report of Session 2022–23, HC 47, 8 February 2023. 62 Qq 2, 3 63 Q 25 64 Q 10 65 Qq 77, 79 66 Q 25 67 Q 31 68 Q 34 69 Q 91 70 Q 34 71 Qq 79–80, 91, 93 Access to urgent and emergency care 15 long-term average of 4.2% over the previous 10 years.72 The Department informed us that the absence figure in February 2023 was 5%.73 NHS England explained that there were ongoing long-term effects from the pandemic in terms of the well-being of NHS staff, and that some staff were impacted by long Covid as well.74 There were three main reasons why staff were off sick. The first was musculoskeletal issues, which is a longstanding issue across the health service. In addition, respiratory conditions and mental health issues had increased.75 NHS England wrote to us after the evidence session and informed us that these three conditions accounted for over one million sick days in February 2023, or 55% of all days that were lost.76 NHS England had also noted during the evidence session that in places which had focused on team-based models of working, sickness levels have gone down, morale had improved, and turnover had reduced.77
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's observations, noting the NHS is making progress in recovering lost productivity and reducing staff absences, with the Long Term Workforce Plan improving processes, and NHS England will provide further details on productivity factors and plans to the committee.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
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. .