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.

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.

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.

The opinion of NHS staff across England was rather divided when asked about staff shortages within their organization. In 2024, around 43.5 percent of the NHS staff stated not to have enough staff at their organization for them to do their job properly, versus the 34 percent who though staffing levels were adequate. Overall, this is an improvement on staffing levels perceived by staff themselves compared to the previous three years.

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.

This statistic displays the number of full time senior managers and managing staff in the NHS in England from 2004 to 2022. The number of senior managers and managing staff in the NHS in England peaked in 2009 at **** thousand staff, and amounted to approximately **** thousand in 2022.

A survey of NHS staff in the UK from 2023 revealed that roughly ** percent of medical and dental professionals felt unwell during the 12 months before the survey due to work-related stress. This survey displays the share of NHS staff in the UK who felt unwell due to work related stress during the last 12 months as of 2023, by selected occupation group.

In every year covered by the data, a lower percentage of white NHS staff experienced discrimination than staff from all other ethnic groups combined.

Provisional monthly figures for full time equivalent (FTE) NHS Hospital and Community Health Service medical staff working in NHS Trusts and CCGs in England.

Since Brexit, the percentage of NHS hospital doctors from EU countries has decreased from 9.7 percent in 2016 to 8.7 percent in 2021. This statistic presents the percentage of national health service (NHS) staff from the European Union working in the United Kingdom in 2016 and 2021, by staff group.

For NHS staff in May 2020, Black men were paid 84p for every £1 paid to White men. Black women were paid 93p for every £1 paid to White women.

NHS Workforce statistics on bank staff employed directly by NHS trusts and paid through the NHS Electronic Staff Record (ESR) pay and human resources system.

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=...

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.

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.

This statistic displays the number of NHS staff employed in central functions in England from 2004 to 2022. The number of NHS central functions staff amounted to approximately 103 thousand in 2022, the highest value since 2010.

These tables cover the period from 30 April 2008 through to the latest period and uses four main earnings measures. Note that from September 2015 this dataset is now updated quarterly.

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. However, the provisional status allows for this to occur if it is determined that a refresh of data is required subsequent to initial release. Where a refresh of data occurs, it will be clearly documented in the publications.

We welcome feedback on the methodology and tables within this publication. Please send your comments and suggestions, clearly stating 'NHS Staff Earnings' as the subject heading through to enquiries@hscic.gov.uk or 0300 303 5678.