NHS Staff

Staff numbers

NHS workforce figures are provided in three different ways: headcount, full-time equivalent (so part-timers count for less than one) and role count (the number of separate roles as opposed to staff members).

There are two key releases published by NHS Digital, one for the hospital and community workforce, excluding GPs and independent providers, and one for the entire healthcare workforce.

The monthly NHS hospital and community workforce statistics provide figures back to 2009.

The entire healthcare workforce statistics are released twice a year, in March and September. These figures don't go back further than a year but are available from elsewhere.

There are also more historical and specialised figures in releases for the GP workforce and those working in ophthalmic services.

Joiners, leavers and redundancies

Figures for the turnover of staff, broken down by local area, are published alongside the monthly workforce statistics. This data is less detailed and only shows turnover for doctors and nurses. In addition, it doesn’t count trainee, bank or locum staff or people working for organisations that cease to be part of the NHS.

In early 2013 the National Audit Office published data on the number of employees who have so far been made redundant as a result of the Coalition’s policies.

Earnings, expenses and absence

Details of earnings and payments made to NHS staff, broken down into the same staff categories as for workforce statistics, are published every three months under NHS staff earnings estimates. GPs’ earnings and expenses are published separately in an annual release.

The rates of sickness absence in the NHS are published in a separate release.