Absences hit 120,000 as military sends 200 staff to help hospitals

The government has announced 200 military personnel are being deployed to “support the NHS in London amid staff shortages due to COVID-19”. The 200 figure is equivalent to about 1.8% of the covid-related absences in acute trusts in the capital on Wednesday, and 0.2% of the national all-trust total of 120,000.

The Ministry of Defence will provide 40 defence medics and 160 general duty personnel, it said. The first were deployed this week, including in Whipps Cross in east London.

According to the minutes of an internal meeting held by senior leadership at the hospital, 10 general duty military personnel have been deployed. They do not have clinical training so cannot take blood, but will undertake general duties, such as feeding patients and communication with teams and relatives. 

Staff absences from NHS trusts hit nearly 120,000 on Wednesday after another increase, HSJ has learned.

Figures due to be published by NHS England are expected to show there were total absences across acute trusts of just over 80,000 on 2 January, down from more than 85,000 on 30 December. 

However, figures seen by HSJ show that, after the end of the new year bank holiday period, this acute trusts figure leapt to more than 92,000 by Wednesday (5 January).

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Source: HSJ, 7 January 2022