This report shows monthly numbers of NHS Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS) staff working in NHS Trusts and CCGs in England (excluding primary care staff). Data is available as headcount and full-time equivalents and are available every month for 30 September 2009 onwards. This data is an accurate summary of the validated data extracted from the NHS HR and Payroll system. Additional statistics on staff in NHS Trusts and CCGs and information for NHS Support Organisations and Central Bodies are published each: September (showing June statistics) December (showing September statistics) March (showing December statistics) June (showing March statistics) Quarterly NHS Staff Earnings and 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. This July 2020 data publication will be the last to include a supplementary file which shows trends in HCHS workforce data observed during the NHS response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Investigations are ongoing into making elements of this publication available ahead of the current schedule. At present it is approximately 12 weeks between the reporting month and the date of publication. Further details will be made available regarding publication outputs when investigations are complete. 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 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.

As of February 2024, the National Health Service (NHS) in England employed a total of 1.34 million staff members on a full-time equivalent (FTE) basis, including 140 thousand HCHS doctors. This is less than the number of NHS staff on a headcount basis, as not all employees work full-time. This makes the NHS the largest employer in England. This statistic shows the number of staff on a FTE basis in the NHS Hospitals and Community Health Services (HCHS) in England as of February 2024, by staff group.

From 2009 to 2024, the number of support staff for doctors, nurses, and midwives in England's National Health Service (NHS) overall increased, reaching roughly 297 thousand full-time equivalent employees as of November 2024. This number is down from the 299 thousand reported a year prior.

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.

In England, the number of central functions support staff in the National Health Service (NHS) overall increased from 2009 to 2023. In November 2023, it reached over 112 thousand full-time equivalent employees, the highest number recorded during this period. This statistic shows the number of central functions support staff in the NHS Hospitals and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce in England from 2009 to 2023, as of November of each year.

In 2019, over **** thousand nurses in the United Kingdom held an Asian nationality, while **** thousand nurses had an EU nationality. Furthermore, there were approximately **** thousand Asian doctors in the UK, and **** thousand doctors with an EU nationality. The highest amount of NHS workers from the rest of the World were working as support to clinical staff, with *** thousand categorized in this staff group.

Make up of non-UK NHS workers

The highest share of healthcare employees who were from the EU occur in the younger age groups, with almost ** thousand employees in the period 2016 to 2018 aged under 34 years of age. While, ** thousand health care workers in the UK aged between 35 and 44 years are from outside of the EU. ** thousand NHS employees working in London were EU nationals, the highest amount of any region in the UK although London is one the most populated and most diverse region in the UK.

Impact of Brexit

In 2019, it was found that almost ** percent of healthcare professionals in the UK knew at least one colleague considering leaving their job due to Brexit. While ****** percent knew a co-worker, who had already left because of the Brexit situation. Due to the large number of workers from the EU in the NHS, the service could be very vulnerable to Brexit and the potential of many employees leaving due to Brexit.

*** This dataset has been discontinued from November 2015 - please refer to "NHS Workforce - Medical Staff" and "NHS Workforce - Non Medical Staff" datasets using the additional links below *** Provisional monthly figures for headcount, full time equivalent and role count of NHS Hospital and Community Health Service (HCHS) staff groups working in England (excluding primary care staff). As expected with provisional statistics, some figures may be revised from month to month as issues are uncovered and resolved. No refreshes of the provisional data will take place either as part of the regular publication process, or where minor enhancements to the methodology have an insignificant impact on the figures at a national level. The monthly publication is an accurate summary of the validated data extracted from the NHS's HR and Payroll system. It has a provisional status as the data may change slightly over time where trusts make updates to their live operational systems. Given the size of the NHS workforce and the changing composition, particularly during this period of transition, it is likely that we will see some additional fluctuations in the workforce numbers over the next few months reflecting both national and local changes as a result of the NHS reforms. 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.

In England, the number of ambulance staff in the National Health Service (NHS) peaked at 21,271 full-time equivalent employees in November 2018. However, the number dropped considerably in the following year. By November 2024, the NHS HCHS workforce included around 21.3 thousand ambulance staff.

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 31 August 2025. 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 england.primarycareworkforce1@nhs.net.

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.

As of September 2024, there were 146,387 full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors in NHS Hospitals and Community Health Services (HCHS) in England, which is more than two thousand times the number reported in September 1995.

In England, the number of administrative support staff in the National Health Service (NHS) increased during this period to reach over 112 thousand full-time equivalent employees in November 2023. This statistic shows the total number of clerical and administrative support staff for doctors, nurses and midwives in the NHS Hospitals and the Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce in England from 2009 to 2023.

A provisional view of GPs by type working in General Practice .

The general practice data records numbers and details of GPs in England. Time series data is available within the excel tables together with more detailed information for December 2016 data for England, by NHS England Regions, NHS England Region Local Offices, Clinical Commissioning Groups and practice.

This report is one of several publications presenting details of staff numbers within the NHS workforce. Links to these publications are at the bottom of the page.

Note: This publication only includes information on GPs, other practice staff groups including Nurses are not included.

Given the classification of ‘Provisional Experimental statistics’ NHS Digital invited comments and feedback on the methodology applied which were reviewed over the summer and incorporated in revisions as part of this publication. Feedback is welcomed via email.

Please email us with your comments and suggestions, clearly stating NHS Workforce as the subject heading, via enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk or 0300 303 5678.

For more details see: http://www.content.digital.nhs.uk/article/2021/Website-Search?productid=...

In England, the number of scientific, therapeutic and technical staff (ST&T) support staff in the National Health Service (NHS) increased from 2009 to 2023, reaching its peak of over 83 thousand full-time equivalent employees in November 2023. This statistic shows the total number of support staff for ST&T in the NHS Hospitals and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce in England from 2009 to 2023, as of November of each year.

As of November 2024, the total number of midwives in England's National Health Service (NHS) Hospitals and Community Health Services (HCHS) stood at 24.7 thousand, up from the 23.3 thousand reported a year prior. The number of midwives employees generally increased from 2009 to 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 (first published on 26 July 2016 looking at the data for March 2016) which include statistics on staff in Trusts and CCGs and information for NHS Support Organisations and Central Bodies. The quarterly analysis will be published each September (showing June statistics), December (showing September statistics), March (showing December statistics), and June (showing March statistics). Additional healthcare workforce data relating to GPs and the Independent Healthcare Provider workforce are also available. Links to these data are available 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

In England, the number of ambulance personnel and trainees generally increased from 2009 to 2023, reaching over 20 thousand full-time equivalent employees in November of the latest year, the highest number recorded so far. The considerable increase from 2018 to 2019 is attributed to changes in methodology. This statistic shows the total number of ambulance personnel and trainees in the National Health Service (NHS) Hospitals and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce in England from 2009 to 2023, as of November of each year.

A detailed view of the General Practice workforce including GPs by type and practice staff.

The general practice census is collected each year and records numbers and details of GPs in England along with information on their practices, staff, patients, and the services they provide.

The detailed results contain further data tables for September 2014 for England, by Commissioning Region, Health Education England Local Education and Training Board, NHS England Area Team and Clinical Commissioning Groups.

As of December 2024, over ** thousand general practitioners (GPs) in NHS England were white, compared to approximately **** thousand Asian and Asian British GPs. On the detailed ethnicity level, Indian physicians were the largest ethnic minority among GPs.