Oxford City Council could scrap a pioneering scheme to try to cut staff sickness, because it has not had dramatic enough results.

The perennial problem of absenteeism among Town Hall staff was meant to be addressed by a pilot scheme involving Diagnostic Health Solutions - a call centre staffed by trained nurses.

The idea was that every time a member of staff wanted a day off sick, they would first call a nurse and seek professional medical advice.

But last month, a performance report revealed staff sickness rates were on course to be the worst ever.

The call centre scheme was the latest in a long line of measures aimed at tackling the problem.

Managers can also call on an in-house health service - but have complained it takes weeks to get an appointment.

The pilot scheme, which ran in three departments, City Works, Revenues and Benefits, and Oxford Building Solutions, finished at the end of last month.

Sickness absence rates in the city works and revenues departments increased year-on-year - but fell in OBS.

Town Hall finance director Mark Luntley said: "We will be reviewing the six-month pilot and will be discussing whether to extend it further, to keep the pilot running as it is, or to stop."

Managers have blamed a small amount of long-term sickness for distorting the overall picture. Last year the 1,338 staff each took an average 12.35 days off.

City council leader John Goddard said: "Sickness absence still isn't good enough and it needs to get substantially better."

Across Oxfordshire, absenteeism among council staff was estimated to have cost £6m in 2005-6.

Last year, employees at Oxfordshire County Council and the five district councils took a combined 119,762 days off ill - an average of more than seven days per employee.

The city council's performance report also showed that in June it failed to meet its target for paying undisputed invoices for the first time. Bills were paid in an average of 16.56 days, against a target of 15.

The situation has caused concern among Town Hall managers, with the report pointing out that "although the cumulative performance remains within target, the trend over the three months is worsening month by month".