Minister fights to improve DHSC morale

Staff absences cost department £6.5 million

Staff absences cost the health department £6.5 million last year, it's been revealed.

Health Minister David Ashford confirmed the figures when he appeared before Tynwald's Social Affairs Policy Review Committee yesterday (Tue).

Health staff worked a collective 100,000 hours last year.

Of those, six and a half thousand were missed due to absences - a proportion of which were blamed on workplace stress.

Mr Ashford says better staff morale is essential to make the DHSC a competitive employer.

He told Manx Radio fighting workplace stress is key to that: