National Workforce Reporting System (NWRS)

How you submit your workforce data to NHS Digital will change from July 2021. The aim is to make the task as simple, efficient and accessible as possible. This will help minimise the burden placed upon practices and primary care networks (PCNs) during this difficult time, while still providing us with the critical information we need to understand capacity and plan for additional support across the multi-disciplinary teams working in primary care.

Get involved

We would like to invite you to try out the new system and gather your feedback. This is key to ensuring that we continue to build a system that works best for you. If you would like to join a 30-minute session to test the new system and tell us what you think, please get in touch with the team via nwrs@nhs.net. We are especially keen to hear from anyone who hasn’t used the NWRS before or users who find it difficult to keep the NWRS up to date.

Any new requests for access to the NWRS reporting module should be addressed to enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk, quoting 'NWRS Access Request' in the subject field of the email. Please also include information regarding the organisation(s) that you work for, so that the correct permissions can be granted.

The data entry module is only available to General Practice and PCN staff who are registered to maintain workforce information, for their organisation, in the NWRS.

The reporting module is available to all registered users of the NWRS and contains a suite of reports containing published, non-identifiable, workforce data supplied by Practices and PCNs. Functionality of the module includes:

• Ability to tailor reports to the user requirements, based on, staff group, job role, age, gender, etc.
• Access to data for each publication back to September 2015
• Downloadable charts and supporting data
• Data quality reports to quickly, and easily, identify practices with data quality issues

We are currently extracting data from the existing NWRS system on a quarterly basis rather than monthly, to allow for developments to the new NWRS system. We recommend entering changes as they occur to minimise burden and ensure records remain up to date.

Until we move to the new system, the next extracts will be made on:

This enables Health Education England (HEE), NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I), and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to have more frequent, accurate, complete and timely information to aid in their decision-making and workforce planning processes, without increasing the burden to Practices and PCNs.

Once information has been entered it remains on the system; data only requires amending if staff details change, or when absences / vacancies have occurred.

Regular comms will be sent out by NHS Digital and NHSE&I. We recommend organisations regularly review the guidance material to keep abreast of updates to NWRS and changes to reporting requirements, for example, such as the addition of new staff roles.

Prior to an extraction, Practices and PCNs may be contacted by their Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) regarding data quality issues. Further details can be found in the NWRS Data Quality Process Guidance.

The wMDS data specification includes the collection of Absence and Vacancy data for each practice. All instances of absence (not including annual leave) must be recorded on the system. Details on how to complete this are included in the NWRS Data Entry Module Guidance.

A Fair Processing Notice (FPN) template was produced as an information leaflet to inform Practice / PCN staff that they will be supplying their workforce information to NHS Digital. Further information regarding the FPN can be found on the wMDS webpage.

Please direct your staff to the FPN, which explains how their personal data is collected, why it is collected, and how it will be processed.

The NWRS is fully GDPR compliant and a summary of why and how we process your data, including your rights, can be found on the National Workforce Reporting System (NWRS) extranet data: GDPR information page.

If you have any queries that are not answered by the above guidance, or need any further support in using the module, please email your query to enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk, quoting 'NWRS’ in the subject field of the email.