STAFF at the trust in charge of The Royal Oldham Hospital missed more days of work because of coronavirus last year than almost anywhere else in the country, figures reveal.

NHS Digital data shows the equivalent of 194,971 full-time staff days were lost due to sickness at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust between March and December.

Of these, 29,596 were because of Covid-19 – one of the highest of all the trusts in England, but behind Imperial College Healthcare, which lost 58,000 days.

Staff at the trust were worst affected towards the beginning of the pandemic.

They were absent for 8,084 days because of coronavirus in April, but were least impacted in August – losing 740 days.

The NHS figures also show that support staff to doctors, nurses and midwives at Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust were absent most often.

Between March and December, they were sick on a combined 65,620 days – 33 per cent of all staff absences.

David Hargreaves, director of workforce at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group (NCA), which brings together the Salford Royal and Pennine Acute trusts, praised the "resilience" of NHS staff throughout the pandemic.

He said: “The past year has been incredibly challenging for everyone working in the NHS - on both a personal and professional level. Our staff have shown remarkable resilience and a sustained focus to deliver the best possible care for all our patients and we are incredibly proud of them and everything they have achieved.”

Around 2.5 million days were lost in the NHS across England due to the virus, giving an overall sickness absence rate of 4.7 per cent between March and December.

According to the figures, more than half a million days were lost across England due to stress, anxiety, depression, or other psychiatric illnesses in December – the highest of any month since the pandemic started.

Mr Hargreaves added: "The additional pressures we’ve faced over the past year, and levels of covid in the general population, have both resulted in a higher level of sickness and absence for some of our staff, and we are committed to providing our workforce with the health and wellbeing support they need, including our SCARF health and wellbeing programme, which offers staff a comprehensive range of support, including four hours of protected time to rest, recuperate and recover.

"The passport is our way of recognising the fantastic contribution made by all our teams over the past year and another means by which we hope to support the health and wellbeing of our staff.” 

The Department of Health and Social Care has said it is investing £89 billion to support the "record number" of NHS staff working in England, and to help address patient backlogs.

A spokesman added: “We recognise the enormous pressure this pandemic has put on our heroic NHS and social care staff and we are funding dedicated mental health support, including a 24/7 helpline, to provide help to those who need it."