ALMOST 3,000 working days have been lost at the county's health commissioning provider as more staff call in sick.

Figures released in Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group's annual review report showed that 2,901 working days were lost last year as a result of staff employed by the group.

The overall absence rate for the CCG during 2017/18 was 4.17 per cent, up from 3.17 per cent in 2016/17.

However, the figure was significantly above the national target of 3 per cent and the national average of 4.07 per cent.

Nationally, mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression, and musculoskeletal problems including chronic back pain, are the two main reasons staff fall ill and have to take time off to recover.

In response to the figures, Dorset CCG said that over the last year we have built on previous good practice surrounding the management of staff absence.

However, they stressed that they had seen a number of long-term sickness cases which had adversely affected the CCG absence rate.

In the report, they added: "We are committed to the health and well-being of our staff and in addition to the work we do

to support absence management, we continued to develop our wider offering during 2017.

"Sickness data is monitored closely by our Workforce team to ensure that support is provided to both staff and their line managers where needed as quickly as possible.

"The workforce has offered a number of opportunities throughout the year for employees to discuss any personal issues, as well as offering stress risk assessments and training in identifying the signs of stress."

The CCG added that the number of long-term absences have been managed to ensure either a successful return to work or that the employee leaves the CCG within the correct processes which have included successfully supporting employees to apply for ill-health retirement.

The report continued: "A member of the workforce team will contact the relevant line manager and offer support

and guidance as soon as the team is aware of any new long term absences; absences due to serious medical conditions; patterns of absence which could indicate potential warnings signs of stress; as well as when a staff member hits our agreed trigger point for short term absences."