NHS reaches record number of doctors and nurses

The government has announced that there are more doctors and nurses working in the NHS  than ever before. There are hundreds more doctors in general practice and thousands more primary care staff.

For the second month in a row, there are a record number of doctors and nurses working in the NHS. There are more than 1.28 million full-time equivalent staff working in NHS trusts and commissioning bodies in England, as of March 2023. This is more than 53,600 more than a year ago, which is an increase of 4.4 per cent.

There are also more than 29,000 additional primary care staff and over 500 more full-time equivalent doctors are working in general practice compared to a year ago.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Steve Barclay, said: "We continue to make progress on strengthening the NHS and primary care workforce.

"Cutting waiting lists is one of the government’s 5 priorities, so it is extremely promising to see record numbers of NHS doctors, nurses, midwives and nursing associates registered to practice in the UK to ensure patients get the care they need more quickly.

"We have published a Primary Care Recovery Plan setting out how we will support general practice to recover from the pandemic, and will soon publish a long term workforce plan focused on recruiting and retraining more staff – to help tackle the backlogs and improve patient care."