Derby Hospitals NHS Trust considers using nurses to contact sick employees in bid to cut £15m debt

Derby Hospitals NHS Trust could use its own nurses to interview employees who are off sick in a bid to cut its £15m debt.

The trust, which employs about 7,000 people, said the measures could also help reduce absence levels, which are currently at an average of 12 days per employee.

A spokesman for Derby Hospitals NHS Trust said: “These ideas are at a very early stage and are just one of the areas being looked at to reduce the overall debt.

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“The system of using nurses to talk to employees is widely used by other large organisations,” he added.

Workplace absence cost the UK economy £13.2bn in 2005 or £531 per employee, according to the annual survey by the CBI and Axa.