The NHS in numbers: How many people work for the health service… and how many vacancies are there?
Winter pressures, an ageing population, strikes, staff shortages and COVID backlogs have left the NHS in crisis.
Reports of ambulances queuing to get into A&E, sick patients in hospital corridors and people unable to get a GP appointment have reignited the debate about whether the health service can cope in its current form.
Ahead of tonight’s Sky News debate – Can the NHS Survive? – we take a brief look at the health service in numbers.
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Can the NHS survive?
STAFF
1,391,820 people work full-time across NHS England, according to the latest data from September 2022.
That is an increase of 2.7% or 36,040 people compared with the previous year.
More than half (52.1%) of those people are qualified clinical staff.
There are 139,683 doctors, 359,495 nurses and healthcare visitors, 26,075 midwives, and 19,475 ambulance staff.
24,759 people work as managers.
VACANCIES
133,446 jobs need filling across NHS England – the equivalent of 9.7% of the total full-time workforce.
Along with about 165,000 vacancies in social care, the latest Care Quality Commission report concluded in October that the system is “gridlocked” and “unable to operate effectively”.
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NHS under ‘immense pressure’
SIZE
The NHS is managed differently across the four nations.
There are 190 trusts in England.
Scotland has 14 health boards.
Wales has 7 health boards and 3 trusts.
Northern Ireland has 5 health and social care trusts.
The largest NHS trust in the country is Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. It runs 10 hospitals and employs 28,371 staff.
The smallest is Dudley Integrated Health and Care Trust, which runs 2 GP surgeries and employs 445 people.
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How NHS crisis is affecting ambulances
BEDS
There are an average of 102,065 hospital beds in England, as of 15 January.
A&E
68,632 people attended A&E each day on average in 2022.
Services in A&E can cost anything between £45 and £1,140.93, according to unit costs for 2021/22.
GPs
486,399 GP appointments took place each day on average in November 2022.
41.6% of these were same-day appointments.
46% were carried out by a GP and 22.1% by a nurse.
69.1% were face-to-face.
45,881 GPs were working across the health service that month.
A 10-minute GP appointment costs an average of £39.23, according to a 2020 study.
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An NHS hospital under pressure
FUNDING
£277bn was spent on healthcare in the UK in 2021, which is 11.9% of total GDP.
This is compared to 17.8% of GDP in the US, 12.8% in Germany, and 10.8% in Denmark.
In 1948, when the NHS was founded, its annual budget was £373m – 3.2% of GDP at the time.
£152.6bn has been allocated for NHS England and NHS Improvement in 2022/23.
11% (£14.9bn) of £133.7bn day-to-day spending in the year 2021/22 was spent on mental health.
PAY
£35,908 was the average annual full-time salary for an NHS worker for the year ending September 2022.
This was an increase of 4.3% (£1,480) on the previous year. But inflation was 10.1% in September 2022, which means it was a real-terms decrease.
NHS pay is banded from 1 to 9.
Band 1 staff, which include drivers, nursery assistants and domestic support workers, get an annual salary of £20,270.
The hourly rate is £10.37 an hour, which is just over the 2022 National Living Wage of £9.50 for over-23s.
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Newly qualified nurses earn £27,055 a year.
Doctors in their first year of work earn £29,834 a year.
Band 9 staff, which include consultants, chief finance managers and estate and facilities directors, earn £109,475 a year.
Kicking off a major ongoing project on the future of the National Health Service, an hour-long debate into the future of the NHS will take place this evening, live from University Hospital Coventry.
It begins at 7pm and will be hosted by Sky News presenter Anna Botting alongside a special panel.
If you are an NHS worker and would like to share your experiences with us anonymously, please email NHSstories@sky.uk.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has called on Sir Keir Starmer to sack Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq over allegations she lived in properties linked to allies of her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, the deposed prime minister of Bangladesh.
It comes after the current Bangladeshi leader, Muhammad Yunus, said London properties used by Ms Siddiq should be investigated.
He told the Sunday Times the properties should be handed back to his government if they were acquired through “plain robbery”.
Tory leader Ms Badenoch said: “It’s time for Keir Starmer to sack Tulip Siddiq.
“He appointed his personal friend as anti-corruption minister and she is accused herself of corruption.
“Now the government of Bangladesh is raising serious concerns about her links to the regime of Sheikh Hasina.”
Ms Siddiq insists she has “done nothing wrong”.
Her aunt was ousted from office in August following an uprising against her 20-year leadership and fled to India.
Ms Siddiq is also named with her aunt in Bangladesh court documents about meetings with the Russian government.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has called on Sir Keir to sack the minister
Read more from Sky News:
Ten Reform councillors quit in protest
Liz Truss sends cease and desist letter to Starmer
As economic secretary to the Treasury, Ms Siddiq is responsible for policy on both the City and tackling corruption.
She referred herself to the prime minister’s ethics watchdog on Monday following the reports about the properties.
On the same day, the prime minister said: “Tulip Siddiq has acted entirely properly by referring herself to the independent adviser, as she’s now done, and that’s why we brought into being the new code.
“It’s to allow ministers to ask the adviser to establish the facts, and yes, I’ve got confidence in her, and that’s the process that will now be happening.”
Police in Aberdeen have widened the search area for two sisters who disappeared four days ago in the city.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV on Market Street after leaving their home on Tuesday at around 2.12am.
The sisters – who are part of a set of triplets and originally from Hungary – crossed the Victoria Bridge to the Torry area and turned right on to a footpath next to the River Dee.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti were last seen on CCTV in Market Street. Pic: Police Scotland/PA
They headed in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club but officers said there is no evidence to suggest the missing women left the immediate area.
Specialist search teams, police dogs and a marine unit have been trying to trace the pair.
The sisters crossed Victoria Bridge before walking along a footpath next to the River Dee
The pair were heading in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club on the south side of the River Dee
Further searches are being carried out towards the Port of Aberdeen’s South Harbour and Duthie Park.
Police Scotland said it is liaising with authorities in Hungary to support the relatives of the two sisters.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Eliza and Henrietta’s family are understandably extremely worried about them and we are working tirelessly to find them.
“We are seriously concerned about them and have significant resources dedicated to the inquiry.”
The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Officers have requested businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review their CCTV footage for the early morning of Tuesday 7 January.
Police added they are keen to hear from anyone with dashcam footage from that time.
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