Eight months ago it was named the worst ambulance service for response times – today we can reveal its staff take the most sick days in the NHS.

East Midland Ambulance Service (EMAS) has come under fire again, including from its own staff, after new figures showed it had the worst staff absence of any NHS body.

In the month of September the service, which covers Northamptonshire, had an absence rate of 7.11 per cent.

The figure equates to almost 250 of the body’s 3,500 staff being off sick every day of the month.

Chief executive Phil Milligan said: “We are conscious that we have a higher than usual sickness rate and some reasons for that include musculo-skeletal injuries or stress due to the nature of the calls we respond to.

“We are reviewing our occupational health service to ensure that we are providing the right support, help and advice and that we can get staff back to work quickly.”

via Evening Telegraph.