The effects of COVID-19 on sickness of medical staff across departments: A single centre experience

Abstract

Introduction COVID-19 presents a risk to healthcare workers, incurring harm to staff physical and mental wellbeing and difficulties in provision of care and service planning. Methodology Doctors' anonymised demographic and staff sickness data were collected between 16 March and 26 April 2020, corresponding with the single centre's greatest COVID-19 caseload. Findings 128 (39%) of doctors experienced at least one sickness episode. Episodes totalled 1,240 days, equating to a sickness absence rate of 9.1%. Rates varied between departments and grades. High levels of sickness were seen in medicine and both adult and paediatric emergency departments with the lowest levels seen in intensive care. Discussion COVID-19 caused a burden of sickness on the medical workforce which must be accounted for in future workforce planning. The disparity in sickness rates across departments is likely to be multi-factorial. Further study is needed to investigate these factors to protect healthcare staff and their patients.