Absenteeism in hospitals still ‘above average’

THE regional director of operations in HSE West, John Hennessy has claimed absenteeism in major acute hospitals is not being reduced quickly enough.

Figures provided by the HSE show the absenteeism rate in the Mid West Regional Hospital in Limerick stands at 6.6%, with a rate of 7.3% amongst the hospital’s 703 nursing staff and 11.5% amongst the hospital’s 211 ‘other care staff’.

Meanwhile, Galway University Hospital (GUH) showed an average absenteeism rate of 5.6%.