Covid-19 behind dozens of staff absences at Suffolk's hospitals
Almost a half of staff off sick from the East Suffolk and North Essex trust on Boxing Day were absent due to Covid.
Last updated 4th Jan 2022
Figures show coronavirus was cited as the reason behind dozens of NHS staff absences at Suffolk's main hospitals on Boxing Day.
It comes after NHS England's medical director, Stephen Powis, said health services are on "a war footing", with Covid-related staff absences more than doubling in a fortnight.
NHS England data shows 743 staff at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust were off sick on December 26th – the latest date for which data is available.
Of those, 356 were off because they had Covid-19, or were self-isolating due to the virus, or around half of the total off sick.
At the West Suffolk trust 343 were off on Boxing Day, 146 of those because of Covid-19.
Across England, the number of NHS staff off work due to Covid increased from 18,800 on December 19th to 24,600 on Boxing Day – a 31% rise.
Professor Powis said new nurses and reservists were being recruited to deal with pressures, as Nightingale hubs are being set-up across the country to tackle a surge in coronavirus patients.
He added: "We don’t yet know the full scale of rising omicron cases and how this will affect people needing NHS treatment, but having hit a ten-month high for the number of patients in hospital with Covid while wrestling with sharply increasing staff absences, we are doing everything possible to free up beds and get people home to their loved ones".
He added that keeping as many NHS staff as possible at work in the next few weeks would be essential.
People who receive negative lateral flow results on day six and day seven of their self-isolation period – with tests taken 24 hours apart – no longer have to stay indoors for a full 10 days.
But there's growing pressure on the government to cut this further, after the US slashed its self-isolation period to five days for asymptomatic cases.
NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson said staff absences could pose a bigger challenge to the health service than patients needing treatment for the virus, with staff having to be redeployed to fill gaps.
Ahead of New Year, the government said while early evidence suggests the new coronavirus variant, Omicron, is less likely to cause serious illness than earlier waves, it stands ready to impose new restrictions in England if necessary.
Now contingency plans are being drawn up amid fears a quarter of workers across the public sector could be absent due to Omicron.
Boris Johnson has told ministers to test preparations for a possible "worst-case scenario", as daily coronavirus numbers continue to hit record levels.
The latest figures for NHS staff absences can be found on the NHS website.