Sick leave in healthcare at record high last year

Absenteeism due to illness increased to record levels in the Dutch healthcare sector last year. As institutions are not allowed to record the reason for sick leave, how much of this is to do with the coronavirus pandemic cannot be said with certainty, Financieele Dagblad reported base on an annual survey by research agency Vernet.

Absenteeism in healthcare has been increasing for years. Last year it jumped by 11 percent compared to 2019. That amounted to an absenteeism rate of 6.8 percent, meaning that on average, 63 thousand healthcare workers were home sick every day last year.

The figures do not include people who were in quarantine because they had the coronavirus, or were quarantining while they waited for their test results.