Written question asked by Lord Grayling (Conservative) on Friday, 1 April 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 7 April 2005. It was answered by Lord Hutton of Furness (Labour) on Thursday, 7 April 2005 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many working days have been lost due to (a) sickness and (b) absenteeism in the NHS in each of the past 10 years.

Answer: Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many working days have been lost due to (a) sickness and (b) absenteeism in the NHS in each of the past 10 years. [224742] Mr. Hutton: National data on sickness absence levels in the national health service has only been collected since 1999 and is collected as a percentage rate, rather than the number of working days lost. Data for the period 1999-2003 is shown in the table. National data on other types of absence in the NHS is not collected centrally, but may be available from individual NHS employing organisations. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Percentage 1999 4.9 2000 4.7 2001 4.8 2002 6.4 2003 4.7 _________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Secondary information