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Data sources and quality assurance

Employment and training data used by NES are derived from different sources. A brief overview of the data sources used in official statistics publications are below. More detailed information, including the quality assurance processes, are available in the following pages.

 

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Workforce in NHSScotland

Staff in post and sickness absence data are collected in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Workforce Database. This is a web based Oracle database that captures data on all staff delivering clinical care in specialist CAMHS in NHSScotland. These data are verified by lead clinicians at each NHS Boards and extracted quarterly by NES.

Staff in post data is combined with mid-year population estimates from National Records of Scotland to calculate the number of staff per 100,000 population and number of staff per 100,000 child and adolescent population (0- 18 year old).

Vacancy data are collected by survey from NHS Boards each quarter.

Staff in training data is sourced from Turas Programme Management twice a year.

 

Psychology Services Workforce in NHSScotland

Staff in post and sickness absence data are collected in the Clinical Psychology Services Workforce Database. This is a web-based Oracle database that captures data on all staff delivering clinical care in Psychology services in NHSScotland. These data are verified by lead clinicians at each NHS Boards and extracted quarterly by NES.

Staff in post data is combined with mid-year population estimates from National Records of Scotland to calculate the number of staff per 100,000 population.

Vacancy data are collected by survey from NHS Boards each quarter.

Staff in training data is sourced from Turas People Management twice a year. To calculate trainee retention we compare the training data with the employment data held in Scottish Workforce Information Standard System.

 

NHSScotland Workforce

Data from many systems are used to report NHS workforce data. In November 2021, NES have completed the first phase of our new data warehouse, with historic and current NHSScotland employment data now warehoused and a new data model developed to support out publication reports.

Employment data are extracted from the Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS) which is a data warehouse sourced from NHS Boards local HR and payroll systems. SWISS is a live system and captures occupation and demographic information on people who are employed by NHSScotland. 

Doctors in training rotate posts every three months, and a change in employment model means that from 1 August 2018 placement data are not fully recorded in SWISS. We therefore combine data from SWISS with data from Turas People to accurately report the board of placement and specialty for doctors in training. 

Absence data are recorded in Scottish Standard Time System by NHS Boards. A subset of these data - sickness absence - are fed to SWISS where they are annually extracted.

Surveys are used to collect information on other workforce indicators. Medical and dental consultant, nursing and midwifery and allied health professions vacancy data are provided quarterly from NHS Boards. Employment and vacancy information on the managed pharmacy workforce are annually collected by survey. From 2005 to 2019, NHS Boards provided data annually on consultant programmed activities: this survey is currently on hold while NES reviews the reporting requirements and suitable methods for data collection. 

The dental workforce in Scotland work in a range of settings and therefore the data are derived from different sources.

  • Dentists working in the general dental services (GDS) are independent contractors and are usually the first point of contact for NHS dental treatment. People registered with a dentist can receive the full range of NHS treatment available under GDS. Data on this workforce is sourced from the Management Information and Dental Accounting System (MIDAS) held at Public Health Scotland. In the official statistics, these dentists can be found in the Dentist table released in June and September.
  • Dentists working in hospitals and community health services provide dental care for people who have either been referred for further treatment or could not get care through the GDS (for example for patients who are residents of long-stay care). These dentists are directly employed by NHSScotland and their data are sourced from SWISS. In the official statistics, these dentists can be found in the staff in post updated quarterly and the Dentist table released in June and September.
  • New or recent dental graduates undertake a one year programme which will allow them to work as an Associate or Principle in the GDS. Data on these Vocational Dental Practitioners are available in Turas People Management. In the official statistics, these dentists can be found in the Dentist table released in June and September.

The General practice workforce are similarly diverse. Doctors with a specialty of General practice included in these data are those that have a contract with the NHS. These fall into four categories:

  • Those on General Practice Specialty Training programmes. Most of these doctors are employed by NHS Education for Scotland.
  • Those in Foundation Year 2 who are on a General Practice Rotation which last around 4 months.
  • GPs who have a contract with the local health board (this may be out of hours, as a GP Appraiser or for other functions), the impact of these doctors can be seen by the wider gap between the Headcount and Whole Time Equivalent in the General Practice Specialty than other specialties as many of these are only contracted to work for 1-2hrs a week and
  • GPs who work in a practice that is being run by the NHS Board.

Many GPs do not have a contract with the NHS and work as contractors within a GP practice providing health services on behalf of the NHS.  A fuller picture of the GP workforce can be found within the Primary Care publications, which NES now produce (these were previously produced by PHS).

Limited data are currently published on bank and agency spend. Nursing and midwifery bank staff spend is available from the annual paybill extract from SWISS. Nursing and midwifery agency spend is collected annually by survey from NHS Boards. Medical and dental locum spend is provided by NHS National Services Scotland who annually extract these data from the Finance platform.

Information on nursing and midwifery student intake and progression is available from the Turas Indexing system. These data are extracted and published annually.