THE number of sick days taken by staff at Warrington and Halton hospitals rose to more than 66,000 in the past year, the Guardian can reveal.

Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation, which employed 3,940 people as of March 2009, lost 66,034 days due to illness in 2008/09.

On average, staff were absent some 16.8 days a year, compared to 10.7 days across the NHS as a whole.

Over the past five years the figures for sickness through absence has risen, dipping in 2007/08, before increasing again in 2009.

In 2004/05 53,715 days were lost, in 2005/06 it was 59,268, in 2006/07 it stood at 68,675 days before dropping to 50,812 in 2007/08.

A trust officer said: “The number of days taken as sickness through absence is not, in itself, an accurate measure of the level of absence in any organisation as the key factor would be the number of available hours, which can fluctuate from year to year, depending on staffing levels.”

Sheila Samuels, director of human resources and organisational development, said: “We’ve worked hard to reduce our overall sickness levels at the hospital which have fallen over the last three to four years.

“While this is similar to the national NHS position for hospital trusts, we constantly aim to achieve improvements in this level. We have a range of policies in place around sickness that are designed to manage periods of absence, support our staff and also ensure that patients are protected.

“One of the elements that we have to manage in the NHS is ensuring that when a staff member feels able to return to work they do not pose a risk to patients through the illness they have had.

“As a trust we’re committed to ensuring sickness levels are kept as low as possible by addressing sickness issues while ensuring that staff are properly supported at the same time.”

Figures released to the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act reveal the hospitals’ sickness absence rates were 5.72 per cent in 2004/05, 6.01 per cent in 2005/06, 5.02 per cent in 2006/07, 5.21 per cent in 2007/08 and 4.95 per cent in 2008/09, the lowest during the five-year period.

The trust was not able to provide a breakdown for the Warrington and Halton sites as many staff work between the two hospitals and added it was impossible to calculate the cost of temporary cover because sickness was one example of absence and other reasons might relate to maternity, study or compassionate leave.

Therefore, the total absence and the demand on the service at the time are what influence cover. Some wards and departments have an element of cover built into their staffing levels to cope with reasonable levels of absence, while others do not.

Length of absences are also a deciding factor as some sickness is short-term and may be absorbed for short periods, while other sickness absence is long-term. Absence is covered by overtime, redeploying staff, temporary/fixed term appointments, secondments and through external agencies.