A wide-ranging coalition of management and staff organisations has called for 'urgent and compassionate action' to tackle 'worrying' levels of sickness among NHS employees.

The call follows the publication of a report by the Nuffield Trust which identifies 'considerably higher incidence of ill health in the NHS workforce than in other occupations', and raises particular concern about 'high levels of psychological disturbance' among all staff groups, including managers.

The report was commissioned by The Partnership, a working group of representatives from unions, doctors' organisations and management groups.

It reviews more than 200 previously published papers and studies and concludes that rising workload, increasing patient demands and changes in health service organisation are major causes of ill health. It says sickness absence levels of 5 per cent or more are costing the NHS£700m a year and that£140m a year would be saved if sickness was cut by 1 per cent - or 2.5 days per staff member per year.

The report also concludes that improved staff communication and involvement, better working environments, the provision of counselling services and training in specific issues such as manual handling could improve the situation.

John Wyn Owen, secretary of the Nuffield Trust and convenor of The Partnership, described the report's findings as 'pretty startling'.

Improving the Health of the NHS Workforce. The Nuffield Trust, tel: 0171-631 8450. Free.