15 NHS hospital trusts in England worst hit by Covid related staff sickness

Coronavirus continues to play havoc with the NHS as tens of thousands of workers remain off sick each day because of the disease.

Latest figures published by NHS England show 65,795 NHS workers were off sick on 3 April with 25,552 (38.8%) because of coronavirus – either through sickness or self-isolation.

The number of workers off sick with the virus has remained relatively stable in the last week with absences increasing by 0.4% (an extra 101 absences) between 27 March and 3 April, the latest date for which data is available.

Some regions are being much harder hit by staff shortages than others.

The South West has the greatest proportion of staff off sick with coronavirus with almost half (49.7%) of the 6,790 absences relating to the virus, followed by the East of England with 41.7% (2,172 absences) and the South East with 40.9% (3,032 absences).

While in London less than a third (30%) of the 6,488 absences are connected to the disease.

Some hospital trusts are also being more affected by Covid staff shortages than others.

Here we reveal the 15 trusts with the greatest proportion of staff off sick with the virus.

Images are for illustrative purposes.