DOCTORS and nurses in York will be offered free zumba and yoga classes to reduce sick days in the NHS.

NHS England outlined the plans as part of their £5million solution to cut absence from hospitals.

Zumba, a dance fitness programme, brings together a range of choreography typically during a one hour long lung-busting workout.

And instructors of the fitness craze in York have backed the move and say it is ideal for people in stressful jobs.

Christine Longster has taught zumba for five years across the city.

She said: "It's an hour of exercise and because it's fun and has different dance styles it takes people who are stressed from normality.

"It's good for stress relief and has many benefits, like weight loss, toning and you can meet new people because it's very sociable.

"It can be really good for nurses who work long hours and, not only that, it's good for patients as well."

Since January 2013, management at York Hospital has paid out £13,937,033 to staff off sick, according to a Freedom of Information request.

Staff at the hospital phoned in sick 15, 148 in 2013, 14,738 times last year and 4,371 times in the first three months of this year, forcing the NHS Foundation Trust to pay out nearly £14million over 27 months.

But Joanne Battson, a zumba instructor since 2011 says classes can reduce that because of the "euphoric" feeling dance classes provide to those taking part.

"People who work 12 hour days in a stressful environment and take zumba leave happy," she added.

"For anybody who doesn't exercise they can start something like Zumba and they don't realise they've had a work out until they finish."

Dawn Preece, assistant director of Human Resources, York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We have in place a number of wellbeing initiatives including on-site fitness classes, corporate gym memberships, on-site gym, ensuring healthy options available in dining areas and have piloted health checks in specific areas of the Trust.

"The Trust totally supports the new Healthy NHS Workforce programme and is excited to be part of this work stream as it underpins and helps us take forward our key priorities linked to our staff health and wellbeing strategy."