Kent NHS trust had over 50,000 sickness absences last year
Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT) recorded more than 50,000 sick days taken in 2017-18. This is the first time this has happened since 2011-2012.
NHS Digital’s data revealed that the trust recorded 53,536 “full-time equivalent days lost to sickness (including non-working days)”, compared to 47,127 in the previous year.
The absence rate was 4.95% – the highest ever recorded since the start of that metric in 2009-10. The most recent national absence rate was lower, at 4.51%.
A KMPT spokesman said: “Working in mental health is incredibly rewarding. Some of our patients stay with the trust for long periods of time and make strong connections with staff.
“Whilst this work is incredibly fulfilling, it can also prove to be stressful and it is important we ensure support is available for our staff.”
The trust, which works closely with both Kent County Council and Medway Council, says it has a number of wellbeing initiatives including “MOT days”, stress management, and mental health training.
The spokesman added:
“The trust has implemented an electronic system to ensure accurate and timely sickness reporting, management and support is available.
“We have since seen improved reporting of reasons for sickness and have strengthened support mechanisms for staff reporting personal and work-related stress, including staff counselling and occupational health.
“Our health and wellbeing project group has already received positive feedback from staff, and we will continue these positive, preventative steps to help our dedicated and caring workforce.”
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KMPT implemented an electronic system, and got better reporting of why people were taking days off ill. Using this information, they improved how they addressed employee stress and received positive feedback from employees.
This demonstrates that not only is it important to collect data, but that it is important to examine the data and decide how to address what it tells you.
If KMPT had simply put “X number of absences were due to stress” into a KPI report, made a graph or table and then left it, nothing would have improved. The human element to data analysis is still absolutely vital.
At Time and Attendance South East, we can provide you with proven software which will give you all the data you need to monitor your workforce’s sickness absences.
For example, our WinTA.NET software lets you assign absence codes for all possible absence reasons to different categories. These could be used to highlight potential weaknesses (stress, always ill after a holiday, etc). They can be colour-coded, so that managers can see any patterns at a glance.
Number and duration of sickness absences are automatically recorded and input into the Bradford Index formula. You can get an individual’s Bradford score as an easy report.
The time and attendance software can also monitor lateness and manning levels, check for adherence to working time regulations and much more.