According to official statistics, only 1 in 40 NHS nurses were unable or unwilling to work late last month because of Covid.
There have been numerous media reports recently warning that hospitals could be shut down as many of the staff who are either ill with the virus themselves or must self-isolate because it is affecting their services.
The NHS England medical director, Professor Stephen Powis spoke last week of the NHS on a war footing. This phrase is often repeated by broadcasters.
Although official statistics show that Covid cases have increased to twice in the lead-up Christmas, it has not prevented a significant number of staff from being able to work.
According to NHS England data, 12,508 English hospital staff were without work on December 1st due to Covid-19. This was either because of self-isolation or sickness.
Although official statistics show that Covid has increased in number by 22% between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, it is only an estimated 1% of all hospital staff who have been affected.
Boxing Day is the latest available day to see that figure, which had already almost doubled at 24,632.
But with 983,000 working in NHS hospitals in England, according to official workforce statistics for 2021, it means that only 2.5 per cent of the workforce – or one in 40 – were off due to Covid towards the end of the month.
Meanwhile, noncovid sick absences fell during the same period. They dropped from 47.628 on December 1, to 43.450 on Boxing Day.
As a result, overall sickness-related absences among NHS hospital staff only rose by 13 per cent in December – from 60,136 on the first of the month to 68,082 on December 26.
Accordingly, approximately 93% of the hospital staff were fit and well at work on Christmas.
The situation is different between the 138 NHS trusts in England.
Nearly 93% of hospital employees were fit and well at work on Christmas Day (Pictured, NHS worker administers Covid jab to Christmas Day).
Five reported overall sickness or self-isolation absences exceeding ten per cent on Boxing Day – Sheffield Teaching Hospitals (12.2 per cent), Nottingham University Hospitals (12 per cent), Wirral University Teaching Hospitals (10.9 per cent), Warrington and Halton Hospitals (10.8 per cent) and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (10.1 per cent).
Each had more than the average Covid-related absences.
Taking Covid-related absences alone, three had rates of over five per cent on Boxing Day – Homerton University Hospital in London (7.1 per cent), Royal United Hospitals Bath (6.9 per cent) and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals (6.7 per cent).
On December 26, nine of them reported Covid-related absences in the lower half of one percent of their employees.