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	Internal links
	The Management of Sickness Absence by NHS Trusts in Wales, National Audit Office, January 2004 Managing sickness absence, the Good Practice Exchange Sickness absence case studies
	External links The management of sickness absence by NHS trusts in Wales, Audit Committee Report (2)05-04, August 2004. Designed to Work: a workforce strategy to deliver Designed for Life, Welsh Assembly Government, July 2006. Heath and Safety Executive, Management standards for stress

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Report - Click here to download the report - The Management of Sickness Absence by NHS Trusts in Wales - Follow Up Report

More than £24 million in staff time was saved by the NHS in Wales between April 2004 and March 2008, thanks to a reduction in sickness absence rates. But, according to a report by the Auditor General for Wales (the Auditor General), sickness absence is still a significant problem in NHS trusts - costing money, taking up time and ultimately affecting the quality of patient care. The Auditor General is calling on the new NHS bodies, created later this year through the reorganisation of the service, to embed good practice in sickness absence management to bring levels down even further. 

Since April 2004, sickness absence rates average around 14 working days per year, or just over 19 calendar days including weekends, for an NHS trust employee working a standard five-day week. This is a reduction from 2002-03 when rates averaged at just over 15 and a half working days per year, or just under 22 calendar days. Today's report estimates that this reduction has generated at least £6 million per year of additional staff time in work.

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