NHS staff off due to Covid surges by 59% in one week

Nearly 40,000 health workers absent since Christmas (PA)

- CHIARA GIORDANO

The number of NHS staff off work due to Covid has risen by 59 per cent in a week, the latest data shows.

NHS England data shows 39,142 NHS staff at hospital trusts in England were absent for Covid-19 reasons on 2 January up 59 per cent on the previous week (24,632) and more than three times the number at the start of December (12,508).

The figures suggest that one in 25 (4 per cent) NHS staff working in acute hospital trusts are off sick or self-isolating due to Covid.

This 4 per cent is based on NHS Digital monthly workforce data for September for acute trusts, which is the most recent available.

The latest data shows in northwest England, 7,338 NHS staff at hospital trusts were absent due to Covid-19 on 2 January, up 85 per cent week-on-week from 3,966, while in northeast England and Yorkshire there were 8,788 absences, more than double the number a week earlier (4,179).

In London, absences were up 4 per cent week-on-week, from 4,580 to 4,765.