A critical moment NHS staffing trends, retention and attrition

Note: Read our latest report on NHS workforce.

• Analysis of the NHS staff profile and trends in England in 2018 largely confirms the trends identified in our previous reports, showing an ongoing deterioration for some key staff groups.
• The past year has seen modest growth of 1.8% in the total number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff. However, this is against a backdrop of more than 100,000 vacancies reported in total by trusts, including more than 41,000 vacant nursing posts. 
• Staffing in some key areas is a problem. The number of GPs is falling, as is the number of nurses and health visitors working in community and mental health services.
• The government has committed to increasing the number of nurses in training, however, in the past year the number of applications and acceptances for pre-registration nursing degrees in England both fell. 
• Staff retention has worsened since 2011/12 and our analysis shows there has been no improvement over the past year. 
• International recruitment will remain vital to achieving the overall staffing numbers needed, but it is currently being constrained by broader migration policies and by the uncertainties of Brexit.