A THIRD of sickness absences at an NHS trust are due to stress and anxiety.
The level of sickness absence at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is around five and a half percent – and 32 percent of that is because of stress.
Bosses say more needs to be done to prevent absences – and to stop staff being harassed by members of the public.
Alison Koeltgen, the trust’s chief people officer, said sickness “remains a significant concern for us”.
CONCERN: Alison Koeltgen, chief people officer at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (Image: Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust)
“Our sickness percentage is really quite stubborn,” she told a trust board meeting on Tuesday, April 14. “We see some mild fluctuation but it really is consistently a concern for us.
“And with 32 percent of that being related to stress and anxiety, I think that tells us a lot about our staff experience – even though we know the reasons for that will be complex and multi-factoral.
“We have a wide range of support for colleagues who have sickness and absence related to stress and anxiety.
“But a lot of that support is reactive support. What we really need to focus on as we move forward, is trying to understand what we can do to really focus further on some of that cultural development work that we’ve been doing so far – to really crank that up now and try to prevent some of that sickness from happening in the first place.
“I’m particularly keen to see how this links to harassment in the workplace, and particularly to harassment and abuse from members of the public to our staff as well.”
She said she wanted to “better support and educate people who use our services in the treatment of our staff and colleagues”.
The trust runs Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester, the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and Kidderminster Hospital and Treatment Centre.
Speaking about a recent staff survey undertaken across the trust, Alison Koeltgen said: “Early indicators aren’t a huge surprise to use about the things that really matter to people.
“So, we know car parking continues to be a concern for people. We know that nutrition and hydration while people are on shift, particularly overnight and at weekends – being able to get affordable, safe, healthy food is really significant.
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“Harassment from members of the public needs to be a real area of focus and the staff survey tells us we haven’t quite got that right.
“Our staff are coming to work and receiving abuse or harassment from members of the public or families.
“We know there’s more work to do in that area.”
She said staff will be supported to de-escalate situations and support provided to “staff, patients and their families when things get a bit heated and maybe get a bit out of hand”.