Health Board Sickness Spike for Betsi Cadwaladr

Last year Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) lost almost 77,000 days of staff productivity thanks to sickness absences attributed to stress and anxiety. This cost the board more than £5.4m. The North Wales health board has been under special measures since 2015 and will remain so until at least June 2019.

The statistics came from a Freedom of Information request asking how many sickness days it had recorded due to stress between 2012 and 2017.

In 2017, the total number of sickness days was 76,919.

In 2016, the number of sickness days was 65,786.

The figures from the request also show a 17.3% increase in absences over six years.

Jan Tomlinson, chairwoman of Unison Cymru’s health committee, said: "Unison’s annual survey of Betsi staff reported low morale, frustration at being associated with poor service and a sense of powerlessness because managers did not consult or listen to them.

"Sickness absence can be reduced by improved employer procedures and welfare support.

"I want to salute the professionalism of Betsi Cadwaladr staff in keeping healthcare services running in very difficult conditions and I urge the authority to make staff welfare a priority."

BCUHB acknowledged that providing healthcare can be physically and emotionally demanding, and said it worked hard to provide "quality support" to staff.

A spokeswoman said extra training had been given to more than 200 staff as part of a drive to encourage "open discussion" of mental health within the workplace. She added: "We have more than 16,500 members of staff and our rates of sickness are below the Welsh average."

Here at Time and Attendance Wales, we have the ideal product for companies to finally get the full picture of their sickness absences. You can use the detailed data to form robust procedures which support your staff.

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