Covid staff absences in two hospitals cost nearly €400,000 in just nine months

The researchers surveyed 1,218 healthcare staff and 208 missed at least one day at work.

The snapshot of direct economic costs highlights the financial drain on hospitals as staff are absent due to Covid-19.

The research was led by Dr Liam Townsend, an infectious disease specialist in St James’s Hospital in Dublin, and presented to the ESCMID Global Congress in microbiology and infectious diseases in Barcelona, Spain.

It looked at St James’s Hospital and University Hospital Galway, covering December 2022 to August last year.

A total of 1,218 staff took part in the study and 208, or 17pc, missed at least one work day, with a total of 1,191 work days lost during the survey. Participants reported Covid symptoms for a total of 712 days.

The total cost due to the absences during the study period was €397,974. ​

Asked to comment on the survey, Dr Townsend said: “This study highlights the direct economic cost of healthcare worker work days missed due to Covid-19.

“The total cost over nine months of €397,000 is likely an underestimate, given that it only includes healthcare workers participating in the precise study.

“We also do not calculate other associated costs such as overtime or locum cover, nor do we capture any quality of care outcomes.

“It also demonstrates the seasonal variation in costs, with highest costs and largest numbers of work days missed occurring during the winter months, coinciding with periods of high patient attendance at hospitals. It also demonstrates that receiving Covid-19 vaccination is associated with lower direct economic costs due to Covid-19 absences.”

The latest report on Covid-19 cases shows there were 187 new infections reported last week, an increase of 14.7pc compared to the previous week with 163 cases.

The highest number of new cases was in the 75-to-84-year age group. Since the start of the pandemic there have been 9,727 Covid-related deaths.

The European Medicines Agency emergency task force has recommended updating Covid vaccines to target the new variant JN.1 for the next winter roll-out.

JN.1 differs from the XBB family targeted by previous updated vaccines and has now surpassed the XBB variants to become the most widely circulating variant.