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Sligo General In Five Worst Hospitals for Absenteeism

New figures released by the Health Service Executive’s internal monitoring service, Healthstat, has reported that Sligo General Hospital is ranked among the five worst hospitals in Ireland for absenteeism. The worst for absenteeism was Ennis General Hospital with a figure topping 10 per cent for nursing staff and 20 percent for general support staff.

The figures are for the month of May, confirming Sligo General's ranking. General support staff absenteeism rate stood at 8 per cent while nursing staff also reached 8 per cent and management hit 5.5 per cent.

Other hospitals criticised in the report included the Midlands Regional Hospital at Portlaoise, Limerick Regional Hospital and Wexford hospital.

The HSE has admitted that there is a “significant problem” with absenteeism at the Ennis hospital.

Member of the HSE West Forum, Cllr Brian Meaney (Green) said: “I know that the HSE is trying to get to grips with the situation."

The latest Healthstat overall rating for Sligo General Hospital shows a very good performance in the areas of Access and Integration with 'room for improvement' in Resources.

A hospital source told SligoToday.ie, "Morale is still at an all time low here. Some staff are exhausted because only two are on duty when there should be five, or in some cases six. You can't blame them for saying 'I can't face it today, its too much', that's the reality of the situation."

According to the Minister for Health, James Reilly, an absenteeism rate of 4.9 per cent for 2011 cost the taxpayer €225 million and Dr Reilly confirmed that the rate of absenteeism in the HSE in 2012 was marginally higher at 5 per cent.

See all Healthstat information on Sligo General Hospital here;
http://www.hse.ie/eng/staff/Healthstat/hospitalresults/SGH/May_2012_Sligo_Hospital.pdf