Staff absences in North East NHS hit the highest in the country

A total of 8,788 NHS staff at hospital trusts in the region were ill with coronavirus or having to self-isolate on January 2, up 110 per cent on the 4,179 reported on Boxing Day and the highest across the whole of the country.

As the Omicron variant takes hold of NHS services in the region, the same can be said within the County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust, who have reported that they’ve had 800 staff off due to Covid-19 – which equates to ten per cent of their workforce.

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Noel Scanlon, executive director of nursing from the County Durham and Darlington Trust has said that staff that are currently on-duty are working “extremely hard” to pick up the slack from those that are required to self-isolate.

He said: “Our colleagues are working extremely hard to ensure that our services can be maintained. Many of them are tired and over-worked, but they continue to work for the patients they are caring for.”

Mr Scanlon also confirmed yesterday (January 7) that 98 patients were in hospital through Covid-19, eight of those were in ICU and ‘several’ deaths had been recorded due to the Omicron variant.

The County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust confirmed they had 800 staff off yesterday (January 7).

TheNorth East Ambulance Service has also confirmed that the Omicron variant is causing “havoc” with its regular service, with a spokesperson for the emergency service saying: “The omicron variant is impacting staff sickness and the service we are able to provide. We have plans within our service and across the wider NHS system to mitigate this where we can.

“In the meantime, the public can help us by using our services wisely, only calling 999 in a life-threatening emergency and considering community services, such as pharmacies, GPs and 111 online first.”

These most recent updates come after NHS England published figures on Friday that showed there were 39,142 NHS staff at hospital trusts in England who were absent for Covid-related reasons on January 2, up 59 per cent from 24,632 the previous week and more than three times the 12,508 at the start of December.

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The figures suggest one in 25 (four percent) of NHS staff working in acute hospital trusts are off sick or self-isolating due to Covid, based on NHS Digital monthly workforce data for September for acute trusts – the most recent available.

NHS national medical director Professor Stephen Powis said rising Covid-19 cases are “piling even more pressure” on hospital trust workers.

He said: “Omicron means more patients to treat and fewer staff to treat them. In fact, around 10,000 more colleagues across the NHS were absent each day last week compared with the previous seven days and almost half of all absences are now down to Covid.

NHS bosses, both nationally and locally, have called the staff shortages "a vital time for the NHS".

“While we don’t know the full scale of the potential impact this new strain will have, it’s clear it spreads more easily and, as a result, Covid cases in hospitals are the highest they’ve been since February last year – piling even more pressure on hard working staff.

“Those staff are stepping up as they always do; answering a quarter more 111 calls last week than the week before, dealing with an increasing number of ambulance call-outs, and working closely with colleagues in social care to get people out of hospital safely.”

To ‘plug the gap’ of staff shortages within the NHS, it was confirmed that troops are getting ready to support the NHS through the current wave of Covid-19.

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The military said it could offer assistance to more hospitals around the UK if needed after around 200 personnel were drafted in to help the NHS in London, which has led the Omicron wave sweeping the country.

Yesterday, Air Commodore John Lyle told BBC Breakfast the military was on hand to offer its support.

He said: “We can’t really forecast too far ahead, but certainly, throughout this current surge, we know that it’s particularly difficult in London at the minute but we are aware that this is impacting all across the United Kingdom.

The military will be drafted in for three weeks to help ease the pressure on NHS workers.

“And so we remain in discussions and there are a number of areas where we’re looking at the potential for more assistance.

“So, over the coming weeks or months, I think we’ll learn a lot from how the progress is made through London and potentially there could be further military support required in other areas.”

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the deployment in London includes 40 military medics and 160 general duty personnel to help fill gaps caused by absences of NHS staff.

They will be deployed in 40 teams of five – comprising one medic and four support personnel – and will be targeted at areas where the need is greatest.

It is expected they will be “on task” for the next three weeks.

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