Sickness absence rates in NHS England staff during the COVID-19 pandemic: insights from multivariate regression and time series modelling

The COVID-19 pandemic placed immense strain on healthcare systems worldwide, with NHS England facing substantial challenges in managing staff illness-related absences amid surging treatment demands. Understanding the impact of the pandemic on sickness absence rates among NHS England staff is crucial to developing effective workforce management strategies and ensuring the continued delivery of healthcare. In this study, we use publicly available data to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sickness absence rates among NHS England staff between June 2020 and 2022. We begin with a data analysis to indicate the temporal patterns of sickness absence in NHS England staff between January 2015 and September 2022 inclusive. We then develop multivariate linear regression models to estimate COVID-19-related sickness absences. Indicators of COVID-19 activity, such as positive tests, hospitalizations, and ONS incidence, were incorporated. Furthermore, we use Seasonal ARIMA time series models to analyse the impact of COVID-19 on mental health-related absence. Our analysis highlights increases in sickness absence rates which coincide with the arrival of COVID-19 in England, and continue to rise throughout the pandemic. High periods of COVID-19 activity strongly correlated with staff absence, and the main categories driving the dynamics were COVID-19-related or mental health absences. We demonstrate that sickness absences in these two categories can be estimated accurately using multivariate linear regression (F(2, 15) = 132.63, , adj =93.9%) and Seasonal ARIMA time series models, respectively. Moreover, we show that additional indicators of COVID-19 activity (positive tests, hospitalisations, ONS incidence) contain helpful information about staff infection pathways. This study offers insights into the dynamics of healthcare staff absences during a pandemic, contributing to both practical workforce management and academic research. The findings highlight the need for tailored approaches to address both infectious disease-related and mental health-related absences in healthcare settings during future health crises and opens new avenues for research into healthcare system resilience during crises.