Sickness absence in the NHS

Over the course of the last calendar year, from January to December 2022, we saw an unprecedented and sustained high average level of sickness absence for the NHS in England. In this report for the Nuffield Trust Billy Palmer and Lucina Rolewicz draw on published data to explore the trends in, reasons for, and impact of sickness absence in the NHS. The briefing primarily focuses on hospital and community services in England, since this is where most is known, although we do compare to trends in other sectors and health services in the other UK nations, where data permits.

All is not well: Sickness absence in the NHS in England | Nuffield Trust

The NHS is ‘neither a leader nor a laggard’, but is failing on critical issues, a report finds

The NHS is ‘neither a leader nor a laggard’ when compared to health care systems of similar countries, though on some critical measures of resources and performance including key health outcomes and staff numbers the UK is falling well below average, according to a report from the King’s Fund.

Its analysis of health care systems in 19 different countries finds that the NHS offers people good protection from the potentially catastrophic costs of ill health and is run relatively efficiently, it underperforms significantly on many key health care outcomes and has fewer clinical staff than most international health systems.

How does the NHS compare to the health care systems of other countries? | The King’s Fund (kingsfund.org.uk)

Reflecting on 75 years since the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush

Think tank the King’s Fund has collated reflections on how the health and care system has changed over the past 75 years and the contributions made – and challenges faced – by the Windrush generation and their descendants working in the NHS and social care.

The project includes oral histories, videos, podcasts, blogs and interviews.

Reflecting on 75 years since the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush | The King’s Fund (kingsfund.org.uk)