NHS Vacancy Statistics (and previous NHS Vacancies Survey)

The NHS Vacancy Statistics series contains data from the following sources:

• NHS England (NHSE)

• NHS Jobs

• Electronic Staff Record (ESR)

• Trac Recruitment Management Software (Trac)

Vacancy related data is provided for the NHS in England and is defined as "a post that is unfilled by permanent or fixed-term staff".

The figures included in this series for NHS Jobs, ESR and Trac provide a range of proxy data sources for NHS vacancies. The series also includes management information related to vacancies within the NHS which have been collected by NHSE.

Users should note that these data do not indicate how much of the reported substantive gap is filled by temporary staff.

Due to the complex nature of how NHS vacancy data is defined and collected, all data sources should be treated with a degree of caution.

We are currently considering the Experimental Statistics status of this publication. This involves consideration around development of the publication and whether the statistics are considered trustworthy, valuable and are meeting user needs.

As we continue to work on making improvements to the publication, we will focus on working with each of the four data sources that comprise this compendium publication. We have provided enhanced data descriptions to help users understand the features of the different sources and hope to include information around applicant behaviours as they progress through the different stages of the recruitment process and re-introduce some data visualisations.