ALMOST 60 per cent of staff at Barnsley Hospital were absent at some point between 2012 and 2015 costing £2.3m, new figures have shown.

Of this, 16 per cent was due to musculoskeletal disorders.

A Freedom of Information request by Physio Med - which provides occupational physiotherapy - revealed hospitals are losing an estimated £290m per year because they don’t offer employees access to physiotherapy services.

In 2014/15, the total number of staff at Barnsley Hospital was 3,291. Almost 2,000 staff took sickness absence - a total of 52,052 days. The total staff absence due to musculoskeletal disorders was 320, and the number of days off due to musculoskeletal disorders was 8,820.

Read more in this weeks Barnsley Chronicle