01 July 2005
Unison has called on the government to develop guidelines on safe staffing levels in hospital wards after a survey revealed that nurses head the public sector league for sick days.
In its survey Ward staffing, the Healthcare Commission said that, on average, each member of ward staff takes off 16.8 days a year. In seven other public sector areas, the average for staff, including teachers and social workers, was 11.3.
The survey, of 135,000 staff in 6,000 hospital wards, says sick leave costs the NHS £470m a year.
Commission chief executive Anna Walker said: 'The causes are unclear but factors such as stress, job satisfaction, workload and the physical nature of the job all may be part of the picture.'
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