Since the publication of workforce statistics on 3 December 2019, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has been named in legislation as a producer of official statistics. For the December 2019 publication NES voluntarily applied the UK Statistics Authority's Code of Practice for Statistics and worked to ensure full continuity in producing the NHS Workforce statistics according to the three pillars of the code of practice: Trustworthiness, Quality and Value.
Trustworthiness
Having confidence in the people and organisations that produce statistics and data.
Quality
Using data and methods that produce assured statistics.
Value
Producing statistics that support society’s need for information.
The NHSScotland workforce has a significant role to play in the delivery of quality services that meet the needs of patients, their families and the general public in a modern health service. Staffing also accounts for a large portion of the NHSScotland budget – the Scottish Health Service costs report reports that, for the year ending 31 March 2020, staff accounted for almost 68% or £5 billion of hospital costs.
NES publishes quarterly updates on an extensive set of indicators, including staff in post and vacancies. These data support NHS Boards and the Scottish Government with local, regional and national workforce planning.
NES works with various stakeholders and project groups to understand any new reporting requirements.
Our Statistical governance and Head of Profession is provided by Scott Heald and the Statistical Governance Team from Public Health Scotland. They can be contacted by emailing phs.statsgov@phs.scot
We follow the below policies developed by Public Health Scotland
Freedom of Information requests should be submitted to nes.foi@nhs.scot. More information can be found on the NHS Education for Scotland Freedom of Information pages