Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to reduce staff sickness in (a) emergency departments, (b) the ambulance service and (c) the NHS generally.

Sickness absence is managed at organisational level across the National Health Service. NHS organisations have their own policies and procedures in place to manage and reduce sickness absence, including any reasonable adjustments to allow people to return to work and/or prevent future absence. Nationally, we recognise that staff across the NHS have been under considerable pressure. We are committed to tackling staff shortages and want to improve organisational culture and working conditions so that we can keep staff healthy, motivated and retain vital skills and experience in the NHS.