SUMMARY OF RELEASE:

Figures are released today on NHSScotland workforce statistics to 30 September 2006 and include:

• Staff in post across all NHS staff groups
• Consultant vacancies
• General, Community and Hospital Dentists
• Staff employed in the General Medical Service

PRINCIPLE FINDINGS:

All Staff

At 30th September 2006:

• there were 157,986 staff in NHSScotland, an increase of 3,991 (2.6%) since September 2005.
• the WTE number of staff (excluding GPs) was 128,831.9, an increase of 3,481.1 (2.8%) since September 2005.

   
Nursing & Midwifery (all figures quoted are WTE)

At 30th September2006:

• almost half (44.0%) of all staff in NHSScotland were employed in the nursing and midwifery staff group.  At 30th September 2006, NHSScotland employed 56,699.6 nursing and midwifery staff, an increase of 1,265.3 (2.3%) since September 2005.  Of these, 40,941.9 were registered grades (up 2.8%) and 15,757.7 were non-registered grades (up 1.0%).

 

Medical & Dental Staff (all figures quoted are Headcount)

At 30th September 2006:   

• there were 11,209 medical and dental staff in NHSScotland, an increase of 338 (3.1%) since September 2005.
• the consultant establishment has increased by 108 (2.7%) to 4,134 since September 2005. The number of consultants in post increased by 134 (3.6%) to 3,853 and the number of consultant vacancies was 281, 26 less at September 2005.  The consultant vacancy rate was 6.8%, compared with 7.6 at September 2005.
• there were 2,842 general, community and hospital dentists, an increase of 173 (6.5%) since September 2005.
• there were 4,637 doctors (including registrars) employed in the General Medical Service (i.e.General Practice), 58 more than at September 2005.

Other Staff (all figures quoted are WTE)
   
At 30th September 2006:

• there were 8,968.1 allied health professionals, an increase of 326.3 (3.8%) since September 2005.
• there were 3,521.8 technical staff , an increase of 284.6 (8.8%) since September 2005.
• there were 25,320.5 administrative, clerical and senior management staff, an increase of 687.5 (2.8%) since September 2005.
• there were 12,644.6 works, trades and ancillary staff, an increase of 137.9 (1.1%) since September 2005.

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CHANGES FOR 2006

Agenda for Change
Information presented on the "Workforce Statistics" web pages is changing to reflect the introduction of Agenda for Change.  Agenda for Change is the new national NHS pay and terms and conditions system for NHS workers.  It replaces the previous Whitley Council system and is one of the key reform elements of the Pay Modernisation Agenda, focused on the need to deliver more effective patient-centred care, better value for money, and redesign of services.

NHS Boards are currently operating a phased approach to assimilation of staff to Agenda for Change and full assimilation has not yet been achieved. In order to provide the fullest detail possible, figures will be presented in the same groupings as for previous years.  Details for employees who have already been assimilated to Agenda for Change have been ?mapped back? as far as possible to the coding used under Whitley to ensure consistency in trend data.

However, we cannot report fully on staff grades at 30th September 2006 due to the non-direct match between old grades and new Agenda for Change pay bands therefore both Whitley grades and Agenda for Change bands are shown in the relevant tables. Once full assimilation to Agenda for Change has been achieved the publication of workforce statistics will be updated to reflect this.


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MAIN CONTACTS:

Workforce
Jane Chisholm,
Senior Information Analyst,
0131 275 6197,
jane.chisholm@isd.csa.scot.nhs.uk

GP
Kathryn Neill,
Senior Information Analyst,
0131 275 6581.
kathryn.neill@isd.csa.scot.nhs.uk

Dental
Stephen Goold,
Senior Information Analyst,
0131 275 6316,
stephen.goold@ISD.csa.scot.nhs.uk



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GLOSSARY:

Headcount and Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) figures:    
The tables present figures in both Headcount numbers and Whole Time Equivalents (WTE).  WTEs adjust headcount staff figures to take account of part-time staff.   An employee may hold more than one appointment in NHSScotland. Their appointments may be in more than one NHS organisation, in more than one region, in more than one specialty, or in more than one grade.  This issue must be considered when using tables showing Headcount figures as the employee is counted under each organisation / region / specialty / grade they work in but only once in the total. Tables showing WTE figures are not affected

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PRE-RELEASE ACCESS TO THIS PUBLICATION WAS GIVEN TO:
Scottish Executive, NHS Board Chief Executives, NHS Board Directors of Human Resources, NHS Board Workforce Planning Contacts

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HISTORY OF THIS PUBLICATION:
Last Published:   26th January 2006
Next Due:   January 2008
Data Available Since:   Paper publications since 1970s,  Web publications since 1996