NHS absence cut 'wins million care hours'

Published on Friday 9 October 2009 21:22

HEALTH chiefs must continue efforts to cut the rate of sickness absence in the NHS, a senior minister said yesterday.

Sickness rates have seen a "significant" fall over the past two years, but are still exceeding target levels. A health action plan published by the Scottish Government in late 2007 aimed to cut NHS staff sickness absence rate to 4 per cent by March this year.

The rate only went down to 4.95 per cent, compared with 5.28 per cent last year and 5.55 per cent the year before. But health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said the reduction equated to making one million more hours available for patient care.