Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration (DDRB): written evidence - 2024-2025 pay round

E. Workforce Planning

National Workforce Planning

80. NHS Scotland’s staffing levels have benefitted from a long-term trend of workforce investment and growth. This has since contributed to twelve consecutive years of staffing increases. Nevertheless, Scotland’s healthcare services continue to face a number of challenges including an increased demand for services and global shortages in some medical specialties, especially in rural areas of the country.

Three Year Workforce Plans and Guidance

81. DL 2022 (09) National Health and Social Care Workforce Strategy: Three Year Workforce Plans, issued in April 2022, provided guidance to NHS Boards and HSCPs on completion of their Three-Year Workforce Plans, including the key information and analysis that should be set out in those plans.

82. It was expected that NHS Boards and HSCPs workforce plans would align with the key policy commitments set out in the NHS Recovery Plan, considering, where relevant, projected recovery needs in Social Care services, in anticipation of the development of the National Care Service.

83. In developing Three Year Workforce Plans NHS Boards and HSCPs were asked to address upcoming workforce demand, taking into account:

• their current workforce, (undertaking a gap analysis comparing projected demand with current workforce capacity);
• their assessment of workforce needs to fill any identified gaps;

84. Additionally, organisations were asked to use the 5 Pillars in the Workforce Strategy (Plan, Attract, Train, Employ, Nurture) as a framework in Three Year Workforce Plans, to:

• Detail the actions which organisations will take to recruit and train staff in sufficient numbers to deliver the future workforce;
• Describe the current workforce and issues affecting the quality of staff experience, wellbeing and actions to support the retention of current staff;
• Identify any short/medium-term risks to service delivery in meeting projected workforce requirements and outline actions in place to mitigate shortfalls.

85. As set out in the DL, NHS Boards and HSCPs submitted 3 year workforce plans in draft by end July 2022, for and detailed comments were provided to all organisations in advance of the October 2022 publication date.

86. NHS Boards and HSCPs published their final versions of their 3 Year Workforce Plans late last year which can be accessed through the local Boards and IJB websites.

87. NHS Boards and HSCPs were asked to update on the actions of their workforce plans through the Annual Delivery Plan process this year. In the meantime, Scottish Government have been reviewing the 3 year workforce planning process and will implement a refined process in 2024.

88. This will coincide with the launch of a new workforce planning tool developed by Scottish Government and NHS Education Scotland.

89. The tool will enable greater understanding of the timing and size of current and projected workforce gaps at a local, regional, and national level.

90. The tool, and associated programme of work will support consistent way of developing high quality, workforce plans and provide a mechanism for quantitative and qualitative updates to be submitted to Scottish Government.

National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care

91. National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care was published March 2022, and set out a new framework to shape Scotland’s health and social care workforce over the next decade.

92. This high level, holistic and longer-term Strategy outlines the changing demands on health and social care, our workforce, vision, values and outcomes. It provides context on current challenges and opportunities and establishes a strategic framework of support for individual services in the development of their own service level strategies – with focus on coherence, sustainability and transformation of service delivery.

Workforce Data

93. While the Scottish Government continues to set a strategic approach to workforce planning, it is vital to ensure that the right workforce is in place to deliver health services across Scotland. The most recently available national workforce statistics are outlined below:

NHS Scotland since 2006

94. NHS Scotland’s staffing levels are up by around 31,300 WTE. This is a 24.6% increase (from 127,061.9 WTE at Sept 2006 to 158,375.2 WTE at Sept 2023).

95. There are 8,894.2 WTE medical and dental staff (excluding doctor’s in training) in post at end Sept 2023 - an overall increase of 84.3% (4,069 WTE) since Sept 2006.

96. There are 6,096.1 WTE medical and dental consultants (incl director-level consultant) employed by NHS Scotland at Sept 2023 – an overall increase of 67.6% (2,459.6 WTE) since Sept 2006.

97. Doctors in Training up 29.1% under the SNP, or 1,551.45 WTE (from 5,336.1 WTE as at Sept 2006 to 6,887.6 WTE as at Sept 2023).

DDRB remit groups

98. There are 8,894.2 WTE medical and dental staff (excluding doctors in training) in post at end Sept 2023 - an overall increase of 84.3% (4,069 WTE) since September 2006

99. For medical and dental specialties, the median age is 39. 13.5% of staff within this job family are aged 55 and over.

Vacancies

100. A vacancy as set out in the official statistics are defined as "a post which has been cleared for advert after being through the redeployment process (internal or external advert) and remains a vacancy until an individual starts in the post).

101. NHS Scotland is a large organisation, employing 158,375.2 staff (WTE) (as at Sept 2023). Given the natural turnover of staff in an organisation of this size, it will always carry some vacancies.

102. For certain consultant posts (Radiology, Geriatrics, Psychiatry), and in certain parts of Scotland, Boards can find it more challenging to fill vacancies. Some specialties such as Radiology and for nursing specialties – continue to experience international shortages.

103. Medical and dental consultant vacancy rate (as a percentage of establishment) is 6.9% (439.1 WTE) as at Sept 2023, this is an increase from 6.2% (392.8 WTE) as at Sept 2022.

104. Medical and Dental Consultant Vacancy rate of six months or more (as percentage of establishment) is 3.3% as at Sept 2023, a slight increase from 3.2% as at Sept 2022.

105. As at Sept 2023, the number of vacant consultant posts in dental specialties was 8.9 WTE a decrease of 27.6% (12.3 WTE) from Sept 2022. Of these, 4.6 WTE have been vacant for 6 months or more representing a 6 months or more vacancy rate of 5.1%.

Staff Turnover

106. For medical and dental staff across Scotland, the turnover rate in 2022/23 was 11.7% (calculated as the number of leavers divided by staff in post as at 31 March 2023).

107. Official data on turnover (staff leaving and joining NHS roles) is published on an annual basis at June. The most recent data on turnover is for the period June 2022-June 2023.

108. The number of medical and dental staff leaving the NHS in the last financial year increased by 2.5% on the previous year.

109. The number of medical and dental staff joining the NHS in the last financial year increased by 8.4% on the previous year.

Primary Care

GP Workforce Planning in Scotland

110. A key change in the 2018 GP Contract is that GPs will become more involved in complex care and system wide activities, necessitating a refocusing of GP activity. As we refocus the GP role, we expect GPs to be less involved in more routine tasks, with these tasks being delivered by other health professions in the wider primary care multi-disciplinary team.

111. In August 2021 the Scottish Government published its NHS Recovery plan to drive the recovery of our NHS, not just to its pre-pandemic level but beyond. The recovery plan is backed with over £1 billion of targeted investment over the next 5 years to increase NHS capacity, deliver reforms in the delivery of care, and get everyone the treatment they need as quickly as is possible.

112. As part of this we are investing in Primary Care through the Primary Care Improvement Fund to provide General Practice and their patients with support from a range of healthcare professionals in the community.

113. This supports the implementation of the new GP contract, creating more capacity for GPs to deal with complex medical care in the community through working as part of an expanded multidisciplinary team.

114. We are currently still running our GP recruitment campaign as part of our commitment to increase the number of GPs in Scotland by 800 by 2027. The campaign seeks to encourage GPs from the rest of the UK to relocate to Scotland, highlighting the flexible, supportive, collaborative and multi-disciplinary working environment available here.

Data Gap on Vacancies

115. The 2018 GP Contract means an increase of data collection. As part of this it is mandatory for practices to provide workforce data – including on GP and practice staff vacancies. This will facilitate future workforce planning. Scottish Government published The Primary Medical Services (GP Practice Data) (Scotland) Directions 2019 on 23 September 2019.

116. The General Practice Workforce survey is now being run on an annual basis. The next publication is due to be published in December 2023.

Recruitment & Retention

117. We know that recruiting health and social care staff to our rural and island areas can be challenging, work is underway to develop a Rural Workforce Recruitment Strategy by the end of 2024. The strategy will aim to support health and social care employers ensure that the needs to those who live in our rural and island are met.

118. We have committed £3.03m in 2023-26 to progressing the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care (the Centre) which will play a key role in maintaining a rural focus on workforce recruitment and retention, education and training, research and evaluation, leadership and good practice. The Centre which will have a primary care focus in its initial phase, will work with Health Boards, Health and Social Care Partnerships and independent contractors.

119. The Scottish Government has commissioned NHS Education Scotland (NES) to lead on the Centre as a National Board with existing reach into our remote and rural communities. NES will work closely with stakeholders to develop a Centre that serves all Scotland’s rural and island populations, is innovative, avoids adopting a one-size-fits-all solution to remote and rural healthcare challenges, impacting on the wider communities.

International Recruitment

120. Scotland remains attractive to international recruits to come and work here and call Scotland their home. We immensely value the contribution that international recruits bring to NHS Scotland, they bring with them the skills and expertise that will support the delivery of NHS services in Scotland.

121. We are providing recurring funding of £1 million to support Boards in recruiting and maintaining international recruitment leads and have recruited more than 1000, primarily nursing staff in the past 2 years. We also established the Centre for Workforce Supply (CWS), within NHS Education Scotland (NES).The CWS continues to develop its expertise on international recruitment and has built links with experienced UK institutions, administers a network, and through that, works directly with Boards to develop solutions and provides practical advice and support to health boards with the on-boarding of overseas staff including in areas of on immigration and regulatory requirements to work in Scotland.

122. We have commissioned CWS to develop a medical workstream to better understand some of the medical workforce gaps across different grades and specialities, and scope out what international recruitment pathways might be able to help fill these. This includes identify innovative international supply initiatives currently underway, understanding what support Boards need to implement more of these international initiatives where appropriate and the enhancement IMG induction and pastoral support.

123. All international recruitment in Scotland is in line with the Scottish Code of Practice on the international recruitment of health and social care personnel. The code demonstrates Scotland’s commitment to ethical recruitment, protecting the healthcare systems of developing nations.

NHSScotland workforce statistics - HCHS Staff (Headcount) by Specialty, Sex & Age Group, Sep 2023

	20 to 24	25 to 29	30 to 34	35 to 39	40 to 44	45 to 49	50 to 54	55 to 59	60 to 64	65+	All ages
All specialties	834	3,058	3,148	2,496	2,096	1,933	1,714	1,409	649	275	17,612
Female	585	1,768	1,792	1,421	1,215	1,013	814	616	219	58	9,501
Male	249	1,290	1,356	1,075	881	920	900	793	430	217	8,111
All medical specialties	739	2,916	3,035	2,379	2,004	1,853	1,631	1,324	610	265	16,756
Female	512	1,674	1,721	1,343	1,148	955	764	565	205	57	8,944
Male	227	1,242	1,314	1,036	856	898	867	759	405	208	7,812
All dental specialties	95	142	115	119	94	82	84	86	39	10	866
Female	73	94	73	80	69	59	50	52	14	1	565
Male	22	48	42	39	25	23	34	34	25	9	301

Note

An employee may hold more than one appointment in NHSScotland, and is counted under each area they work in as well as in the overall total - therefore, the sum of all headcounts within individual categories may not equal the overall headcount total.

NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence - Management Information

53.9% of M&D wokforce are females while 46.1% are males.

More than half (54%) of the M&D workforce are less than 40 years old, the median age of the staff is 38.

Average basic and total pay for M&D staff - 2022/23

Grade	Sex	Basic pay	Total pay	Year WTE	Average basic pay4	Average total pay5	Gender difference in av. basic pay6	Gender difference in av. total pay6
Consultant	F	263,877,732	338,885,789	2,521.9	104,635	134,377	2,616	16,691
	M	356,127,573	501,627,520	3,320.5	107,250	151,068
	Total	620,005,305	840,513,308	5,842.4	106,121	143,864
Doctor in Training2	F	117,473,045	223,110,516	3,006.6	39,072	74,207	1,661	-5,033
	M	106,873,515	181,500,013	2,623.8	40,732	69,174
	Total	224,346,560	404,610,530	5,630.4	39,846	71,862
Staff grade3	F	40,486,274	46,240,377	530.9	76,256	87,094	-302	6,305
	M	29,417,806	36,174,381	387.3	75,954	93,399
	Total	69,904,080	82,414,758	918.2	76,129	89,754
"Other" grade	F	54,746,874	94,506,387	859.3	63,708	109,976	1,094	15,650
	M	44,378,270	86,031,366	684.8	64,803	125,626
	Total	99,125,144	180,537,753	1,544.2	64,194	116,917
Total	F	476,583,924	702,743,069	6,918.8	68,883	101,571	7,622	13,207
	M	536,797,165	805,333,280	7,016.5	76,505	114,778
Overall total		1,013,381,089	1,508,076,349	13,935.2	72,721	108,220

Note

1. Sourced from NES pay bill file 2022/23 from Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS)

2. "Doctor in Training" includes Foundation Years 1 & 2 and Specialty training (SpR, StR etc).

3. "Staff grade" includes Associate specialists & Specialty doctors.

4. Average basic pay is calculated as the aggregated Basic pay divided by the aggregated Year WTE.

5. Average total pay is calculated as the aggregated Total pay divided by aggregated Year WTE.

6. Gender difference in average basic and total pay uses the male amount as the starting point - so a positive difference means the male amount is higher than the female amount.

Gender differences in average basic pay

Overall, male M&D staff have higher basic pay than females. Higher basic pay for males are observed across all grades with the exception of "Staff" grade where females have greater basic pay than males. The biggest difference in average basic pay is in the "Consultants" grade group where males earn on average around £2,620 more than females.

Gender differences in average total pay

Overall, male M&D staff have higher total pay than females. Higher total pay for males are observed across all grades with the exception of "Doctor in Training" grade where females have greater total pay than males. The biggest difference in average total pay is in the "Consultant" grade group where males earn on average around £16,690 more than females.

NHSScotland workforce statistics - Consultant Vacancies and Establishment¹, by Specialty², Sep 2023 NHSScotland - Consultant Vacancies by Specialty - Trend to 30 September 2023

	Sep-06	Sep-09	Sep-10	Sep-11	Sep-12	Sep-13	Sep-14	Sep-15	Sep-16	Sep-17	Sep-18	Sep-19	Sep-20	Sep-21	Sep-22	Sep-23
All Specialties	272.3	166.0	139.0	112.5	143.1	213.1	339.3	345.5	389.9	430.5	398.1	483.1	377.4	440.1	392.8
All Medical Specialties1	262.3	160.0	138.0	111.2	141.1	207.4	332.3	336.7	378.8	420.9	393.2	475.6	373.4	434.9	380.5	430.2
Emergency Medicine	6.0	4.0	2.0	2.0	7.3	15.5	20.3	19.8	15.7	17.5	11.1	17.9	17.7	8.7	8.0	15.4
Clinical Laboratory Specialties	36.4	28.7	31.2	18.8	30.7	37.0	58.0	45.7	68.7	85.7	70.2	68.3	46.8	43.2	47.4	38.9
Medical Specialties	66.4	42.0	33.5	32.0	30.7	57.6	94.4	112.9	104.3	114.5	110.5	111.2	108.2	96.7	108.0	112.2
Geriatric Medicine	9.0	4.0	8.5	7.0	3.0	11.0	12.0	10.0	8.0	18.8	18.0	23.9	20.3	13.4	13.8	9.7
Psychiatric Specialties	52.8	36.3	15.5	8.0	8.7	25.2	37.3	40.3	41.8	58.8	65.1	78.4	69.7	96.8	71.4	100.4
Surgical Specialties	47.5	19.0	19.0	27.6	22.0	28.1	50.0	47.7	65.6	65.1	72.1	91.7	51.1	76.7	58.8	67.0
Paediatrics Specialties	16.8	16.0	14.0	13.0	15.9	13.0	19.0	20.8	33.2	25.1	16.0	21.5	13.7	28.9	15.0	18.0
All Dental Specialties	10.0	6.0	1.0	1.3	2.0	5.7	7.0	8.8	11.1	9.6	4.9	7.5	4.0	5.2	12.3	8.9

NHSScotland - Consultant Establishment¹ by Specialty - Trend to 30 September 2023

	Sep-06	Sep-09	Sep-10	Sep-11	Sep-12	Sep-13	Sep-14	Sep-15	Sep-16	Sep-17	Sep-18	Sep-19	Sep-20	Sep-21	Sep-22	Sep-23
All Specialties	3,896.9	4,418.4	4,514.1	4,541.1	4,619.3	4,797.7	5,230.0	5,372.2	5,564.4	5,620.2	5,755.6	5,865.0	5,964.8	6,214.8	6,294.8	6,400.7
All Medical Specialties2	3,806.4	4,321.0	4,414.5	4,440.0	4,514.5	4,690.7	5,126.6	5,273.3	5,457.3	5,518.0	5,659.8	5,770.6	5,876.5	6,124.9	6,201.5	6,310.4
Emergency Medicine	81.8	98.8	130.4	135.8	151.7	170.0	223.6	227.1	232.1	240.0	240.4	252.7	271.0	279.7	288.9	310.5
Clinical Laboratory Specialties	552.1	589.9	597.6	591.9	589.4	603.5	660.6	668.8	703.2	718.5	712.3	717.1	707.3	728.1	749.4	737.4
Medical Specialties	859.5	905.2	1,003.0	1,014.8	1,021.4	1,078.3	1,222.1	1,267.0	1,342.7	1,369.6	1,435.7	1,425.2	1,476.8	1,511.4	1,549.4	1,575.8
Geriatric Medicine	127.9	141.4	149.0	148.5	147.6	156.3	172.0	173.1	177.2	189.3	201.0	206.5	207.1	204.2	206.3	200.4
Psychiatric Specialties	497.4	562.0	542.8	550.3	533.5	552.1	572.5	582.7	596.5	591.2	598.0	607.0	614.3	644.5	612.7	628.2
Surgical Specialties	751.6	857.8	879.0	883.8	870.3	862.2	956.3	1,002.5	1,032.0	1,039.8	1,035.5	1,098.9	1,104.4	1,168.0	1,173.6	1,210.9
Paediatrics Specialties	184.0	304.7	230.0	235.7	239.7	245.4	297.7	319.3	339.8	334.7	367.1	370.9	379.7	408.1	411.4	414.6
All Dental Specialties	90.5	97.4	99.6	101.1	104.7	107.1	103.4	98.8	107.1	102.3	95.8	94.4	88.2	90.0	93.3	90.3

 

NHSScotland - Consultant Vacancies as a Percentage of Establishment by Specialty - Trend to 30 September 2023

	Sep-06	Sep-09	Sep-10	Sep-11	Sep-12	Sep-13	Sep-14	Sep-15	Sep-16	Sep-17	Sep-18	Sep-19	Sep-20	Sep-21	Sep-22	Sep-23
All Specialties	7.0%	3.8%	3.1%	2.5%	3.1%	4.4%	6.5%	6.4%	7.0%	7.7%	6.9%	8.2%	6.3%	7.1%	6.2%	6.9%
All Medical Specialties	6.9%	3.7%	3.1%	2.5%	3.1%	4.4%	6.5%	6.4%	6.9%	7.6%	6.9%	8.2%	6.4%	7.1%	6.1%	6.8%
Emergency Medicine	7.3%	4.0%	1.5%	1.5%	4.8%	9.1%	9.1%	8.7%	6.8%	7.3%	4.6%	7.1%	6.5%	3.1%	2.8%	5.0%
Clinical Laboratory Specialties	6.6%	4.9%	5.2%	3.2%	5.2%	6.1%	8.8%	6.8%	9.8%	11.9%	9.9%	9.5%	6.6%	5.9%	6.3%	5.3%
Medical Specialties	7.7%	4.6%	3.3%	3.2%	3.0%	5.3%	7.7%	8.9%	7.8%	8.4%	7.7%	8.5%	7.3%	6.4%	7.0%	7.1%
Geriatric Medicine	7.0%	2.8%	5.7%	4.7%	2.0%	7.0%	7.0%	5.8%	4.5%	9.9%	9.0%	11.6%	9.8%	6.6%	6.7%	4.8%
Psychiatric Specialties	10.6%	6.5%	2.9%	1.5%	1.6%	4.6%	6.5%	6.9%	7.0%	9.9%	10.9%	12.9%	11.3%	15.0%	11.6%	16.0%
Surgical Specialties	6.3%	2.2%	2.2%	3.1%	2.5%	3.3%	5.2%	4.8%	6.4%	6.3%	7.0%	8.3%	4.6%	6.6%	5.0%	5.5%
Paediatrics Specialties	9.1%	5.3%	6.1%	5.5%	6.6%	5.3%	6.4%	6.5%	9.8%	7.5%	4.4%	5.8%	3.6%	7.1%	3.6%	4.3%
All Dental Specialties	11.0%	6.2%	1.0%	1.3%	1.9%	5.3%	6.8%	8.9%	10.4%	9.4%	5.1%	7.9%	4.5%	5.8%	13.2%	9.9%

Note

1. Consultants - Includes Consultants and Directors of Public Health. Excludes Clinical/Medical/Dental Directors as vacancy data for these posts are not published.

2. Establishment value is calculated as: Establishment=staff in post + total vacancies (not including posts under review).

3. The sum of the individual sub-specialties will not equal the "All medical specialties" total as only a selection of sub-specialties are

Data Sources: ISD Scotland National Statistics, NHS Scotland Workforce (up to Sep-18); NES Official Statistics, NHS Scotland Workforce (Sep-19 onwards)

NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

Since the previous year, consultant vacancies have increased by 11.8% (46.3 WTE), while establishment has increased by 105.9 WTE. Increased establishment suggests that new posts have been created due to the expansion of services. These are likely included in the posts that are vacant due to staff leaving posts.

NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

NHSScotland workforce statistics - WTE time series of HCHS Medical & Dental Staff (WTE) by Group¹

	Sep 08	Sep 09	Sep 10	Sep 11	Sep 12	Sep 13	Sep-14	Sep 15	Sep 16	Sep 17	Sep 18	Sep 19	Sep 20	Sep 21	Sep 22	Sep 23
All HCHS medical and dental staff	11,343.3	11,328.4	11,440.3	11,960.7	11,943.9	12,181.4	12,698.9	12,812.1	13,117.7	13,239.3	13,531.6	13,745.6	14,411.4	14,837.2	15,348.1	15,781.8
Consultant2	4,234.4	4,252.5	4,375.1	4,428.5	4,476.2	4,584.6	4,890.7	5,026.7	5,174.5	5,189.8	5,357.5	5,382.0	5,587.4	5,774.7	5,902.0	5,961.7
Director (Clinical, Medical & Dental)3	48.3	53.9	59.2	76.9	82.6	81.2	83.6	74.7	129.2	134.5	127.2	123.2	114.5	127.4	130.0	134.5
Doctor in Training (with NTN)1,4	3,173.8	3,222.7	3,076.9	3,667.7	3,591.6	3,739.9	3,951.4	3,893.7	3,359.0	2,978.2	3,228.7	3,670.1	3,859.6	3,762.2	3,767.1	3,966.5
Doctor in Training (no NTN)1,2,5	545.9	461.2	589.5	308.8	278.8	197.0	246.6	205.3	716.7	1,177.9	874.9	796.2	686.5	787.3	884.3	892.5
Foundation house officer year 21,2	914.0	828.0	861.8	784.0	800.7	787.5	886.2	786.5	778.1	790.6	852.2	926.5	927.1	894.1	977.5	1,068.0
Foundation house officer year 11,2	899.4	963.3	824.7	956.0	988.5	1,072.3	883.5	1,036.6	978.7	998.3	847.7	866.6	852.0	939.3	1,002.8	960.6
Specialty doctor6	1,047.6	1,008.7	1,057.9	1,080.0	1,050.8	1,042.9	1,058.5	1,056.4	953.8	939.5	935.8	936.9	939.8	931.6	941.4	1,000.2
Senior dental officer	75.7	70.8	85.2	88.0	87.3	77.7	82.8	90.8	98.5	91.0	79.6	82.9	94.9	88.9	88.3	77.0
Dental officer	225.1	224.0	190.8	201.7	184.5	184.5	196.6	174.1	174.2	179.0	192.4	181.6	169.9	174.8	175.1	159.3
Other1,2,7	179.0	243.3	319.1	369.0	403.1	413.8	419.0	467.2	755.0	760.5	1,035.5	779.7	1,179.7	1,357.0	1,479.6	1,561.5

Source: ISD Scotland National Statistics, NHS Scotland Workforce (up to Sep-18); NES Official Statistics, NHS Scotland Workforce (Sep-19 onwards)

Note

1. From the 30 September 2018, the employment model for Doctors in Training (DiT) has changed affecting both the DiT grade and Other grade. As such, trend information for DiT (including Foundation house officer year 1 and year 2), 'Other' and therefore Medical overall figures should be interpreted with caution.

2. Staff in the consultant group include consultants and directors of public health.

3. Staff in the director (clinical, medical & dental) group include assistant chief administrative dental officer, assistant clinical director, chief administrative dental officer, clinical director and medical director.

4. Staff in the doctor in training (with NTN) group include registrar, senior registrar, specialist registrar, and specialty registrar.

5. Staff in the doctor in training (no NTN) group include core training, MTI, GPST and specialty registrar (core training).

6. Staff in the specialty doctor group include associate specialist, clinical medical officer, hospital practitioner, limited specialist, part time dental practitioner para 107 app, part time medical practitioner para 94 app. [clin ass], senior clinical medical officer, specialty doctor and staff grade.

7. Staff in the other group include clinical fellow, dental advisor [CSA only], dental core training - grade 1, dental core training - grade 2, general professional trainee - dental, other, prescribing advisor, salaried GDP, salaried GP and Sessional GP out of hours

Overall M&D workforce in NHS Scotland have consistently increased over the past ten years.

Over the past year, there has been a 2.8% (433.7 WTE) increase in M&D workforce.

NHSScotland workforce statistics - Consultant¹ Establishment², Staff in Post and Vacancies by Specialty³, Sep 2023

			Length of Vacancy		Vacancies as a Percentage of Establishment
	Establishment	Staff in Post	Total Vacancies	Vacant 6 months or more	Total	6 months or more
All specialties	6,400.7	5,961.7	439.1	210.8	6.9%	3.3%
All medical specialties2	6,310.4	5,880.2	430.2	206.2	6.8%	3.3%
Emergency medicine	310.5	295.1	15.4	4.0	5.0%	1.3%
Clinical laboratory specialties	737.4	698.5	38.9	20.9	5.3%	2.8%
Medical specialties	1,575.8	1,463.6	112.2	59.0	7.1%	3.7%
Geriatric medicine	200.4	190.7	9.7	8.7	4.8%	4.3%
Psychiatric specialties	628.2	527.8	100.4	48.8	16.0%	7.8%
Surgical specialties	1,210.9	1,143.9	67.0	35.0	5.5%	2.9%
Paediatric specialties	414.6	396.6	18.0	5.0	4.3%	1.2%
All dental specialties	90.3	81.4	8.9	4.6	9.9%	5.1%

Note

1. Consultants - Includes Consultants and Directors of Public Health. Excludes Clinical/Medical/Dental Directors as vacancy data for these posts are not published.

2. Establishment value is calculated as: Establishment=staff in post + total vacancies (not including posts under review).

3. The sum of the individual sub-specialties will not equal the "All medical specialties" total as only a selection of sub-specialties are presented here.

Data Source: NES Official Statistics, NHS Scotland Workforce - Data as at 30 September 2023

NHSScotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence

There are 439.1 WTE consultant vacancies as at 30 September 2023. 98% of these are for medical specialties and 2% for dental specialties.

Of these vacancies, approximately half of them were vacant for 6 months or more.