Record number of NHS staff helping to tackle backlogs and improve patient care

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.

There are over 1.27 million full-time equivalent staff working in NHS trusts and commissioning bodies in England – over 51,500 more people compared to a year ago which is an increase of 4.2%.

Elsewhere, additional data shows there are more than 25,000 additional primary care staff as the government remains on course to reach its target of 26,000 more staff in primary care by March 2024.

As of March 2023, 440 more full-time equivalent doctors were working in general practice compared to a year ago and they continue to deliver more face-to-face appointments.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Steve Barclay, said:

Today's figures demonstrate the clear progress being made to train and recruit record numbers of staff across the NHS and in primary care. Cutting waiting lists is a key priority for this government and we are committed to ensuring we have the workforce in place to achieve that.

We will soon be publishing a long term workforce plan focused on recruiting and retraining more staff – to help tackle the backlogs and improve patient care. We will also be publishing a plan outlining further support for primary care."

The latest data also shows there are over 5,300 more doctors and over 12,300 more nurses working in the NHS compared to February 2022. Since 2010, there are now over 37,800 more doctors and over 53,700 more nurses.

At the same time, almost two million more GP appointments were delivered in March 2023 compared to a year ago – that is 83,500 more appointments each working day.

Last year, a record breaking 4,032 doctors accepted a place on GP training. 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.