NHS pay review body: twenty-sixth report 2012 - Official Documents

Chapter 2 – Recruitment, Retention and Earnings of Our Remit Group
Introduction
2.1
This chapter provides summary information on: the size and composition of the NHS
non-medical workforce in each UK country; recent changes in the size of the workforce;
vacancies and turnover; earnings; and membership of the NHS Pension Scheme. Data
relate to full time equivalent (FTE) staff except where specified.
Composition of Our Remit Group
2.2
Figure 2.1 shows the composition of our remit group in each UK country and in the UK
as a whole as at September 20101 . Detailed categories of staff have been aggregated into
broad staff groups, to enable cross-UK comparisons to be made2 :
•
•
Qualified nursing and midwifery staff was the largest group, at 33% of the total
UK non-medical workforce, followed by administrative, estates and management
(28%); and
As health and social care are integrated in Northern Ireland, there are proportionally
more professional, technical and social care staff in this country compared with
others (30%, compared with a UK average of 18%).
Figure 2.1: NHS workforce by UK country and broad staff group, September 2010
80%
60%
40%
Percentage of FTE staff 100%
20%
0%
England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland UK
Qualified nursing & midwifery Nursing & healthcare assistants & support
Professional, technical & social care Ambulance
Admin, estates & managers Other
Sources: OME calculations based on data from the NHS Information Centre, ISD Scotland, StatsWales and DHSSPSNI.
1
The most recent date for which UK-wide data were available at the time of writing.
2
Appendix C provides information on which categories of staff in each country have been allocated to broad staff
groups. These comparisons should be treated with caution: some ancillary staff in England and Wales are categorised
in the census as HCAs and support staff, but have job roles that fit better in the broad group ‘administrative, estates
and management’.
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