An NHS trust is offering sick employees fast-track treatment in a bid to get
them back to work as quickly as possible.
Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust will offer its staff outpatient
consultation within one month of referral, and treatment as an in-patient
within three months, or the next available appointment.
Nick Groves, the trust’s director of workplace development, hoped the
project would help staff recover more quickly and boost recruitment.
He said the scheme – which is due to be piloted for six months from April –
would benefit the trust’s patients as staff will be back at work as soon as
possible after sickness. It will also cut costs by reducing the number of
agency staff needed to cover for absent trust employees.
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"We wouldn’t be able to provide care without our staff, so helping them
to stay healthy and get back to work as quickly as possible is of direct
benefit to other patients," he said.
Groves said no patients will have operations cancelled as a result of the
scheme, and staff will still have to go through the normal GP referral process.
