As of September 2024, there were a total of 405,631 full-time equivalent (FTE) nurses, midwives, and ambulance staff in NHS Hospitals and Community Health Service (HCHS) in England.

As of November 2023, over 41.8 thousand mental health nurses worked for the National Health Service (NHS) in England. From 2016 to 2023, the number of mental health nurses staff had a slight steady increase. This statistic depicts the total number of mental health nurses in the NHS Hospitals and Community Health Service (HCHS) workforce in England from 2009 to 2023.

This report shows monthly numbers of NHS Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) staff working in NHS Trusts and other core organisations in England (excluding primary care staff). Data are available as headcount and full-time equivalents and for all months from 30 September 2009 onwards. These data are an accurate summary of the validated data extracted from the NHS HR and Payroll system. Additional statistics on staff in NHS Trusts and other core organisations and information for NHS Support Organisations and Central Bodies are published each: September (showing June statistics) December/January (showing September statistics) March (showing December statistics) June (showing March statistics) Quarterly NHS Staff Earnings, monthly NHS Staff Sickness Absence reports, and data relating to the General Practice workforce and the Independent Healthcare Provider workforce are also available via the Related Links below. We welcome feedback on the methodology and tables within this publication. Please email us with your comments and suggestions, clearly stating Monthly HCHS Workforce as the subject heading, via enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk or 0300 303 5678.

As of November 2023, there were around 39.9 thousand community health nurses in the National Health Service (NHS) Hospitals and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce in England. From 2017 to 2023, the community health nurses workforce has been steadily increasing.

In England, the number of nursing support staff in the National Health Service (NHS) increased from 2009 to 2023, reaching around 184 thousand full-time equivalent employees in November of the latest year. This statistic shows the total number of support staff for nurses in the National Health Service (NHS) Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce in England from 2009 to 2023.

NHS Hospital & Community Health Service (HCHS) monthly workforce statistics: Support to doctors and nursing staff in England by area and level. This provides details of the numbers of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff employed by the NHS in England in the following support roles: - Nursing Assistant Practitioner - Nursery nurse - Nursing assistant/auxiliary - Nurse learners - Healthcare assistant - Support worker - Clerical & administrative - Estates (maintenance & works)

These statistics relate to the contracted positions within English NHS organisations and may include those where the person assigned to the position is temporarily absent, for example on maternity leave.

Over 1.3 million people were employed by the NHS in June 2022 and 74.3% of them were white (out of people whose ethnicity was known).

The number of FTE* nurses and health visitors employed by the NHS hospitals and community health services (HCHS) fluctuated over the provided time period. Since 2015, the numbers have steadily increased to ***** thousand nurses in 2024.

Publication changes: Please read the section on 'Notes on changes to publications' within the PDF report as this highlights changes to data currently published and potentially the frequency of future reports. This report shows monthly numbers of NHS Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS) staff groups working in Trusts and CCGs in England (excluding primary care staff). Data is available as headcount and full-time equivalents. This data is an accurate summary of the validated data extracted from the NHS's HR and Payroll system. In addition to the regular monthly reports there are a series of quarterly reports which include statistics on staff in Trusts and CCGs and information for NHS Support Organisations and Central Bodies. The quarterly analysis is published each September (June data), December (September data), March (December data) and June (March data). Additional healthcare workforce data relating to GPs and the Independent Healthcare Provider workforce are also available via the Related Links below. We welcome feedback on the methodology and tables within this publication. Please email us with your comments and suggestions, clearly stating Monthly HCHS Workforce as the subject heading, via enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk or 0300 303 5678

Between March 2022 and 2023, approximately **** thousand of HCHS nurses and health visitors left the NHS workforce, the second-highest number recorded in the provided time interval.

The General Practice Workforce series of Official Statistics presents a snapshot of the primary care general practice workforce. A snapshot statistic relates to the situation at a specific date, which for these workforce statistics is now the last calendar day each month. This monthly snapshot reflects the general practice workforce at 30 November 2024. These statistics present full-time equivalent (FTE) and headcount figures by four staff groups, (GPs, Nurses, Direct Patient Care (DPC) and administrative staff), with breakdowns of individual job roles within these high-level groups. For the purposes of NHS workforce statistics, we define full-time working to be 37.5 hours per week. Full-time equivalent is a standardised measure of the workload of an employed person. Using FTE, we can convert part-time and additional working hours into an equivalent number of full-time staff. For example, an individual working 37.5 hours would be classed as 1.0 FTE while a colleague working 30 hours would be 0.8 FTE. The term “headcount” relates to distinct individuals, and as the same person may hold more than one role, care should be taken when interpreting headcount figures. Please refer to the Using this Publication section for information and guidance about the contents of this publication and how it can and cannot be used. England-level time series figures for all job roles are available in the Excel bulletin tables back to September 2015 when this series of Official Statistics began. The Excel file also includes Sub-ICB Location-level FTE and headcount breakdowns for the current reporting period. CSVs containing practice-level summaries and Sub-ICB Location-level counts of individuals are also available. Please refer to the Publication content, analysis, and release schedule in the Using this publication section for more details of what’s available. We are continually working to improve our publications to ensure their contents are as useful and relevant as possible for our users. We welcome feedback from all users to PrimaryCareWorkforce@nhs.net.

From 2009 to 2023, the number of nurses that work with people with learning disabilities and difficulties in the National Health Service (NHS) Hospitals and Community Health Services (HCHS) decreased in England. As of November 2023, just over three thousand nurses work with people with learning disabilities and difficulties.

In 2024, there were approximately *** thousand nurses in employment in the United Kingdom (UK). This is a ** percent overall increase from 2010 when there were around *** thousand nurses. Trends among other healthcare personnel in the UK  The number of medical practitioners employed in the UK amounted to approximately *** thousand in 2021. This is an increase from the *** thousand practitioners in 2010. The number of midwives in the UK amounted to **** thousand in 2021, but has been slightly declining in numbers since 2013. Impact of Brexit Since the UK made the decision to leave the European Union, the number of new nurses and midwives from the EEA has significantly decreased. In the year 2018/19, the number of new registrants from the EEA was less than *** thousand, while almost *** thousand joined from the EEA in 2015/16, which was before the referendum concerning the EU membership. 

As of December 2024, the NHS in England employed a total of 1.5 million staff members (headcount: counting each individual staff member), including 157 thousand HCHS doctors. This makes it the largest employer in England. In terms of staff groups, nurses (and health visitors) represented the biggest number, followed by support to doctors, nurses and midwives.

The number of HCHS doctors leaving generally increased during the period reaching 21,000 leavers in the year 2022/23, the highest reported in the period analyzed, and over a seven percent increase from the figure reported a year earlier.

IntroductionA considerable percentage of daily emergency calls are for nursing home residents. With the ageing of the overall European population, an increase in emergency calls and interventions in nursing homes (NH) is to be expected. A proportion of these interventions and hospital transfers may be preventable and could be considered as inappropriate by prehospital emergency medical personnel. The study aimed to understand Belgian emergency physicians’ and emergency nurses’ perspectives on emergency calls and interventions in NHs and investigate factors contributing to their perception of inappropriateness.MethodsAn exploratory non-interventional prospective study was conducted in Belgium among emergency physicians and emergency nurses, currently working in prehospital emergency medicine. Electronic questionnaires were sent out in September, October and November 2023. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the overall results, as well as to compare the answers between emergency physicians and emergency nurses about certain topics.ResultsA total of 114 emergency physicians and 78 nurses responded to the survey. The mean age was 38 years with a mean working experience of 10 years in prehospital healthcare. Nursing home staff were perceived as understaffed and lacking in competence, with an impact on patient care especially during nights and weekends. General practitioners were perceived as insufficiently involved in the patient’s care, as well as often unavailable in times of need, leading to activation of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and transfers of nursing home residents to the Emergency Department (ED). Advance directives were almost never available at EMS interventions and transfers were often not in accordance with the patient’s wishes. Palliative care and pain treatment were perceived as insufficient. Emergency physicians and nurses felt mostly disappointed and frustrated. Additionally, differences in perception were noted between emergency physicians and nurses regarding certain topics. Emergency nurses were more convinced that the nursing home physician should be available 24/7 and that transfers could be avoided if nursing home staff had more authority regarding medical interventions. Emergency nurses were also more under the impression that pain management was inadequate, and emergency physicians were more afraid of the medical implications of doing too little during interventions than emergency nurses. Suggestions to reduce the number of EMS interventions were more general practitioner involvement (82%), better nursing home staff education/competences (77%), more nursing home staff (67%), mobile palliative care support teams (65%) and mobile geriatric nursing intervention teams (52%).Discussion and conclusionEMS interventions in nursing homes were almost never seen as necessary or indicated by emergency physicians and nurses, with the appropriate EMS level almost never being activated. The following key issues were found: shortages in numbers and competence of nursing home staff, insufficient primary care due to the unavailability of the general practitioner as well as a lack of involvement in patient care, and an absence of readily available advance directives. General practitioners should be more involved in the decision to call the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and to transfer nursing home residents to the Emergency Department. Healthcare workers should strive for vigilance regarding the patients’ wishes. The emotional burden of deciding on an avoidable hospital admission of nursing home residents, perhaps out of fear for medico-legal consequences if doing too little, leaves the emergency physicians and nurses frustrated and disappointed. Improvements in nursing home staffing, more acute and chronic general practitioner consultations, and mobile geriatric and palliative care support teams are potential solutions. Further research should focus on the structural improvement of the above-mentioned shortcomings.