Reducing sickness absence - applying the lessons from a pilot NHS intervention

Funder:

Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy, December 2011- March 2013.

Aim:

In May 2008 NHS Lanarkshire (NHSL) implemented a unique sickness absence management service called Early Access to Support to You (EASY) service. Three main changes made to sickness absence management included:
• Telephone contact with absent staff on days one, three and ten
• From day one staff are made aware of a range of support services, including physiotherapy, HR advice, occupational therapy and counselling
• At day 10, referral to occupational health (previously day 28) and, dependent on need, assignment of a case manager who can offer non-clinical support.
The EASY service supplements existing absence policies and enables communication between the absentee and their line manager from day 1 of absence. The aim of the study was to determine if the EASY service was effective in reducing sickness absence in NHSL. Secondly to consider how the EASY service could be developed into a larger early sickness absence intervention which could be used by employers in Scotland within the Healthy Working Lives suite of services.

Key Results:

This project has shown that the EASY service, which intervenes from day 1, has been effective in reducing sickness absence in NHSL. In particular;
• The EASY service is effective in reducing sickness absence, in terms of hours lost, in NHSL
• The richness of the EASY database gives detailed information on absentees by cause, duration, job family, secondary compliance
• Sickness absence incidence shows year on year downward trend
• Those absentees phoned on the first day of absence were more likely to return to work than those phoned on subsequent days
• There is a high level of satisfaction of the EASY service in NHSL staff
It was also cost-effective; value of hours saved comfortably exceeded cost of delivering the service.

Conclusions:

This project has shown that the EASY service, which intervenes from day 1, has been effective in reducing sickness absence in NHSL and has enabled NHSL to move from the worst performing Scottish mainland Health Board to the best in terms of sickness absence management. The study also highlights the importance of early intervention for sickness absence management.

Access the final report here.