Sickness absence in the NHS: October to December 2024
Data on sickness absence rates for directly employed NHS staff for October to December 2024.
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Introduction
This release presents official statistics on sickness absence rates of staff directly employed by the NHS in Wales. New information is shown for the quarter that ended on 31 December 2024 and data for July to September 2024 has been revised.
The data is sourced from the NHS Electronic Staff Record provided by Health Education and Improvement Wales.
All data included in this release is published on StatsWales.
Main points
Longer-term sickness absence rates are measured by taking the average sickness rate for the 12 months prior to the last day of each reference month.
- In the 12 months that ended on 31 December 2024, the average sickness absence rate was 6.2%. This was 0.1 percentage points higher than the same 12-month period last year (12 months to 31 December 2023), and 0.9 percentage points higher than in the 12 months to 31 December 2015.
- The 12-month average sickness absence rate has been broadly stable since the summer of 2023, following the record high rates during the 12-month periods that ended in July and August 2022, which were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
While monthly data is published there can be large variations from month-to-month, therefore more stable short-term trends are measured by using the sickness absence rate in each quarter. The latest quarterly data available is for October to December 2024, and shows:
- the sickness absence rate was 6.7%, 0.2 percentage points higher than the October to December quarter of last year (2023)
- the rate ranged from 8.2% in Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust to 2.7% in Health Education and Improvement Wales, when comparing NHS organisations
- the rate ranged from 10.4% for healthcare assistants and support workers to 2.5% for medical and dental staff, when comparing staff groups
Trends in the sickness absence rate
Sickness absence shows seasonal variation throughout the year typically with lower rates in summer and higher rates in winter. To provide more stable analysis of longer-term changes, a 12-month moving average is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Trends in sickness absence rates in NHS Wales by month, December 2015 to 2024
Description of Figure 1: Line chart showing that the 12-month moving average sickness absence rate has been broadly stable for the last 18 months, below the peaks seen during the pandemic, but higher than period before the pandemic.
Source: Electronic Staff Record, Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW)
Percentage of NHS staff absent by organisation on StatsWales
Over the longer term, the 12-month moving average has increased from being close to 5.2% for all 12-month periods that ended between December 2015 and March 2019, before reaching the highest rates on record (7.0%) for the 12-month periods that ended on 31 July and 31 August 2022 which were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The rate has since fallen and then stabilised in recent 12-month periods, at a level above the pre-pandemic level.
Sickness absence rate by NHS organisation
Figure 2: Sickness absence rates by NHS Wales organisation, October to December 2024 compared to the same quarter in the previous year
Description of Figure 2: Bar chart showing that sickness absence rates vary widely by NHS organisation and are generally higher among the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust and health boards.
Source: Electronic Staff Record, Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW)
Percentage of NHS staff absent by organisation on StatsWales
In the quarter that ended on 31 December 2024, sickness absence rates increased in eight of the thirteen NHS organisations when compared to the same quarter in the previous year.
The rate decreased in the Welsh Ambulance Service, Health Education and Improvement Wales, Digital Health and Care Wales and Velindre; and remained the same in Swansea Bay but increased in all the other organisations.
Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust had the highest sickness absence rate (8.2%) of all NHS organisations, but the rate was 0.9 percentage points lower than the same quarter in the previous year. This was the largest annual change in sickness absence rate of all NHS organisations.
The lowest sickness absence rates were in Health Education and Improvement Wales (2.7%), NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (3.4%) and Digital Health and Care Wales (3.6%). These organisations also had the lowest sickness absence rates in the same period in the previous year.
Considering only the local health boards, there was some variation with the highest sickness absence rate in Swansea Bay and Cwm Taf Morgannwg (both 7.4%) and the lowest rate in Powys (5.6%). The sickness absence rate across all local health boards was 7.0%.
Sickness absence rate by staff group
Figure 3: Sickness absence rates by NHS Wales staff group, October to December 2024 compared to the same quarter in the previous year
Description of Figure 3: Bar chart showing that sickness absence rates varied widely between different staff groups; the rates for healthcare assistants and support staff were over four times greater than for medical and dental staff.
Source: Electronic Staff Record, Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW)
Percentage of NHS staff absent by staff group on StatsWales
In the quarter that ended on 31 December 2024, sickness absence rates were higher in four of the six staff groups when compared to the same quarter in the previous year. The rate remined the same for administration, estates and general payments staff, and there was a decrease of 1.4 percentage points in the sickness absence rate for ambulance staff; this was the largest annual change in sickness absence rate of all staff groups.
Healthcare assistants and support workers had the highest sickness absence rate (10.4%), 0.8 percentage points higher than the same quarter in the previous year.
Medical and dental staff had the lowest sickness absence rate (2.5%) and has since data was first collected in 2009.
Quality and methodology information
The data is sourced from the NHS Electronic Staff Record provided by Health Education and Improvement Wales. Further information is available in the quality report.
The percentages in this release are rounded to the nearest 0.1. Percentage point changes are calculated based on the unrounded numbers.
Data on the number of Staff directly employed by the NHS Wales (also known as the NHS staff census data) is published on a quarterly basis. Note that there are minor differences in how staff groups are defined between the two releases. These are detailed in the quality report.Complementary statistics on the number of vacancies in NHS Wales is also published.
NHS staff who are self-isolating, including shielding staff (shielding advice was paused from 1 April 2021), are not counted as being on sick absence and are therefore not included in these sickness absence rates.
Statement of compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.
All of our statistics are produced and published in accordance with a number of statements and protocols to enhance trustworthiness, quality and value. These are set out in the Welsh Government’s Statement of Compliance.
These official statistics demonstrate the standards expected around trustworthiness, quality and public value in the following ways.
Trustworthiness
A monthly extract is downloaded from the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) Data Warehouse detailing the number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) calendar days available and the number of FTE calendar days of sickness absence for NHS staff in Wales on the ESR by staff group and organisation. Data is submitted from Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) on Excel spreadsheets via Objective Connect, a web-based tool to securely share and receive files.
The published figures are compiled by professional analysts using the latest available data and applying methods using their professional judgement and analytical skillset.
These statistics are pre-announced on the Statistics and Research area of the Welsh Government website. Access to the data during processing is restricted to those involved in the production of the statistics, quality assurance and for operational purposes. Pre-release access is restricted to eligible recipients in line with the Code of Practice (OSR).
Quality
Our statistics are produced to high professional standards and are produced free from any political interference.
Validation checks are performed by Welsh Government statisticians and queries referred to HEIW and other NHS organisations where necessary. Data by staff group is based on mapping occupational codes for individual staff. Information on staff groups is available from the NHS Occupation Code Manual.
The statistical release is approved by senior statisticians before publication. Data is published in line with statement on confidentiality and data access each quarter.
Each edition of the release presents data for the latest quarter and revised data for the previous quarter. As the ESR is a live system and data extracts are taken from it, data presented may be revised in future editions of the statistical release.
Value
The purpose of the statistical release is to inform users about sickness absence levels in NHS Wales. This information is published alongside data on staff directly employed by the NHS in Wales and vacancies in NHS Wales to give a more complete picture of the staff directly employed by the NHS workforce.
Statistics are published quarterly with a three-month lag between the reference period of the latest statistics and publication. The statistics are published with brief analysis and commentary, in addition to open data format tables which are published on StatsWales: sickness absence
You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.
Well-being of Future Generations Act (WFG)
The Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 is about improving the social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing of Wales. The Act puts in place seven wellbeing goals for Wales. These are for a more equal, prosperous, resilient, healthier and globally responsible Wales, with cohesive communities and a vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language. Under section (10)(1) of the Act, the Welsh Ministers must (a) publish indicators (“national indicators”) that must be applied for the purpose of measuring progress towards the achievement of the wellbeing goals, and (b) lay a copy of the national indicators before Senedd Cymru. Under section 10(8) of the Well-being of Future Generations Act, where the Welsh Ministers revise the national indicators, they must as soon as reasonably practicable (a) publish the indicators as revised and (b) lay a copy of them before the Senedd. These national indicators were laid before the Senedd in 2021. The indicators laid on 14 December 2021 replace the set laid on 16 March 2016.
Information on the indicators, along with narratives for each of the wellbeing goals and associated technical information is available in the Wellbeing of Wales report.
Further information on the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.
The statistics included in this release could also provide supporting narrative to the national indicators and be used by public services boards in relation to their local wellbeing assessments and local wellbeing plans.