NHS Board Projected Staff In Post Changes In 2012/13

2. Caveats

The following caveats should be considered when interpreting the data:

• All data shown in the tables have been provided by NHS Boards. Although the baseline figures are similar to the ISD Scotland National Statistics publication on NHS Workforce, they are not identical/comparable. These differences are due to data quality issues. ISD and NHS Boards are working together to resolve these discrepancies.
• Nursing & Midwifery interns have been projected by NHS Education for Scotland. This forecast is based on experience of the numbers of internships in the system in the period from November 2011 to March 2012, assumptions regarding trends in vacancies within NHS Scotland and an increased awareness of the Scheme among new graduates. However, there is very limited historical data on which to inform trend projection and an inherent uncertainty as to the demand. These figures are estimates and are subject to change. As NHS Board data does not include interns, interns are shown in the overall NHS Scotland tables only (Tables 1 and 2).
• Management (non-AfC) is a sub group of Administration Services. These figures are not comparable to the 25% Reduction Target in Senior Management posts. The definition used in the target allows the exclusion of clinically orientated staff from within this group and the inclusion of some AfC Administration staff (Band 8a and above).