Publication, Part of NHS Vacancy Statistics (and previous NHS Vacancies Survey)

NHS Vacancy Statistics England April 2015 – December 2020 Experimental Statistics

Experimental statistics, Official statistics

Publication Date:: 25 Feb 2021
Geographic Coverage:: England
Geographical Granularity:: Ambulance Trusts, Care Trusts, Clinical Commissioning Groups, Hospital Trusts, Mental Health Trusts, NHS Trusts, Regional health body, Regions
Date Range:: 01 Apr 2015 to 31 Dec 2020

Summary

This is the latest compendium publication in the NHS Vacancy Statistics series containing vacancy related data for the NHS.

Data from Trac Recruitment Management Software (Trac) has been incorporated into the series which increases the intelligence provided and further enhances the compendium nature of the publication.

The figures included in this series therefore now provide four different views on recruitment information for the NHS.

Data from NHS Jobs, the Electronic Staff Record (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 NHS England and NHS Improvement. 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.

NHS Digital look forward to developing the compendium publication further for future iterations of the series and remain committed to providing the best, most accurate and useful information possible to support the NHS and to serve the public good.

To help with the development of this publication, feedback is continually welcomed and can be sent to: [email protected] with the subject heading ‘NHS Vacancy Statistics publication feedback’.

Key Facts

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant disruption to recruitment activity within the NHS. This is apparent from the significantly lower reported advertised vacancies between March and June 2020 as the NHS was fully focused on dealing with the first wave of the pandemic. Whilst pressures of the pandemic eased somewhat over the summer months, it is still apparent from the data that recruitment activity for the NHS remains disrupted.

Whilst some critical recruitment increased in response to the situation, other elements were significantly reduced – this is particularly the case for certain Staff Groups. However, we believe that the headline figures included in the bulletin remain of immediate use, as they represent the situation as it was at the time, but year on year comparisons should be avoided.