- More doctors, nurses and staff than ever before working in
the NHS
- Data also shows over 500 more doctors working in general
practice
- Government delivers on commitment to recruit 26,000 more
primary care staff by 2024 a year early
For the second consecutive month, there are record numbers of
doctors and nurses working in the NHS helping to deliver extra
appointments, speed up diagnoses and tackle the Covid backlog,
according to data published today by NHS England.
Over 1.28 million full-time equivalent staff are working in NHS
trusts and commissioning bodies in England as of March 2023 -
over 53,600 more compared to a year ago which is an increase of
4.4%.
At the same time, additional data shows there are more than
29,000 additional primary care staff as the government announced
last week it has delivered on its commitment to recruit 26,000
more staff in primary care by March 2024.
As of April 2023, over 500 more full-time equivalent doctors are
working in general practice compared to a year ago.
Health and Social Care Secretary, , said:
“We continue to make progress on strengthening the NHS and
primary care workforce.
“Cutting waiting lists is one of the government’s five
priorities, so it is extremely promising to see record numbers of
NHS doctors, nurses, midwives and nursing associates registered
to practice in the UK to ensure patients get the care they need
more quickly.
“We have published a Primary Care Recovery Plan setting out how
we will support general practice to recover from the pandemic,
and will soon publish a long term workforce plan focused on
recruiting and retraining more staff – to help tackle the
backlogs and improve patient care.”
There are almost 2,000 more doctors in general practice than in
2019, along with a record 4,000 in training,–up from 2,671 in
2014. Just as in hospitals, trainees deliver direct patient care
while being safely supervised and support fully-qualified GPs,
helping to ease workloads and increase capacity in general
practice.
Separate statistics published earlier this week show that the
number of nurses, midwives and nursing associates registered to
practise in the UK has grown to a record total of 788,638. This
means the National Midwifery Council (NMC) register is now
equivalent to 1.2% of the estimated UK population, with numbers
of homegrown UK-educated staff increasing, alongside talent from
overseas.
Underlying this strong growth, 2022–2023 saw the highest number
of new joiners to the NMC’s register in a single year – 52,148,
with the number of UK educated joiners rising by 8.5 percent to
more than 27,142.
Notes to editors
