Nursing and Midwifery
This section provides information on the nursing and midwifery workforce in NHSScotland. The figures are sourced from Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS) and describe the numbers of staff assimilated to the Agenda for Change nursing and midwifery job family. Those staff not yet assimilated but where a nursing and midwifery staff group has been identified from their existing payscale are also presented. It is worth noting that if Operating Department Practitioners (ODPs) have been assimilated to nursing job profiles under Agenda for Change they will be shown in this staff group.
The nursing and midwifery workforce is presented by location of service delivery and by field or patient group served, based on post descriptors. There is also a fuller breakdown for nurses working in the community. Information is available by band, age group, gender, contract type, NHS Board and region.
Due to the conflict between the location of service delivery field and post descriptor/AfC sub job family, it is possible that an employee may, for example, have a post descriptor of health visitor and 'hospital' as location of service delivery. Within most NHS Boards it is generally unlikely that a health visitor would be managing workload from a 'hospital'. Therefore to account for the conflict between these fields an 'other' group within each location of service delivery category has been introduced. As a result each sub category will add up to the location of service delivery total. The 'other' category within each location of service delivery field consists of;
| Hospital | Community | Combined hospital / community |
|---|---|---|
| Bank nurses | Adult | Bank |
| Blood transfusion service | Bank | Blood transfusion service |
| Community general nurses | Other nurses | Community general nurses |
| District nurses | Training and administration | District nurses |
| Family planning nurses | Family planning nurses | |
| Health visitors | NHS 24 | |
| NHS 24 | Other nurses | |
| Other nurses | Public health nurses | |
| Public health nurses | School nurses | |
| School nurses | Training and administration | |
| Training and administration | Treatment room nurses | |
| Treatment room nurses |
Throughout, information is presented as headcount, employments or whole time equivalent (WTE). WTE adjusts headcount staff figures to take account of part-time staff.
Information available includes;
- Staff in post (see latest publication report)
- Vacancies (see latest publication report)
- Students (see below)
- Clinical nurse specialists (CNS) (see latest publication report) [333kb]
- Agency and bank nurse usage (see May 2012 publication report) [672kb]
Nursing and midwifery is the largest staff group (WTE) in NHSScotland accounting for 42.7%.
NHS Highland and The Highland Council are working towards developing an integrated model for health and social care. This new service model will involve 1,491staff (headcount) in adult community care services transferring from The Highland Council to NHS Highland. In addition, an estimated 230 NHS Highland staff in child health services will transfer to The Highland Council. This change in the provision of care within NHS Highland will have an impact on the Workforce National Statistic publications as staff transfer between both organisations. For this reason, it is important to note this with regards to trend information.
Please see NHS Scotland Workforce Publication Report for full details.
Students
The number of nursing and midwifery student intake decreased from 3,454 in 2010/11 to 3,037 in 2011/12. The number of students on conversion courses decreased from 89 in 2010/11 to 58 in 2011/12. The number of nursing and midwifery students in Scottish Higher Education Institutions has increased with 10,662 students in initial entrant (pre-registration) training in 2012 compared with 10,384 in 2011. The attrition rate for students on diploma courses is 24.8% for 2007/08.
- Student intakes and students in training by trend - Last updated 27 November 2012
[40kb] - Student attrition rates on diploma courses - Last updated 27 November 2012 [330kb]
Clinical nurse specialists
Latest data available 30th September 2012 - last updated 27th November 2012.
A clinical nurse specialist is a registered nursing professional who has acquired additional knowledge, skills and experience, together with a professionally and/or academically accredited post-registration qualification (if available) in a clinical specialty. They practice at an advanced level and may have sole responsibility for care episode or defined client/group.
The number of clinical nurse specialists at 30th September 2012 is 2048.4. (WTE) which is a decrease of 99.4 (WTE) from 30th September 2011.
- Clinical nurse specialists staff in post - Last updated 27 November 2012 [6.8mb]
List of historic (pre agenda for change) tables - information presented by old whitley staff groups.
Staff group specific information
- The grouping of staff by hospital, community, combined hospital/community and other/not applicable is sourced from the “location of service delivery” field within Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS), which was populated by NHS boards in September 2008. For staff records where this field was not completed the data are shown under the other/not applicable category.
