NHS Forth Valley says it is putting more emphasis on its employees’ health as it launches a plan it hopes will cut its staff absence rates.

Sickness rates for NHS Forth Valley staff are persistently high, with the latest figures, for May this year, showing a rate of just over 6 per cent, members of the NHS board heard.

When combined with the covid figures, the total absence for May 2022 is 7.73 per cent. While the figures are going in the right direction – decreasing from a total of 8.88 per cent in April – they are still cause for concern.

In a bid to get sickness rates down, NHS Forth Valley has launched a three-year workforce wellbeing plan that aims to continue and build on the support that was offered to staff during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The board heard that not only would the wellbeing plan help to reduce absence rates, it should also reduce staff turnover and vacancy rates. Improving these, would in turn improve patient care.

Linda Donaldson said: “We know that the happier the workforce we’ve got the better patient care we get and that’s better outcomes for our staff, our patients and the communities that live in.”

She said the plan was being developed with the staff wellbeing group.

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