Psychology Workforce NHSScotland

This release by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) provides a quarterly update, as at 30 June 2024, on the Psychology Services workforce staff in post, vacant posts, and staff in training. 

Figures are presented as headcount (actual number of staff) and whole time equivalent (WTE), which adjusts the figures to take account of part-time working.

At 30 June 2024:

• There were a total of 1743.1 WTE (2079 headcount) clinical staff in post. This is an increase of 1.5% (25.9 WTE) over the last quarter, an increase of 8.3% (133 WTE) over the last year, and an increase of 74.1% (741.9 WTE) over the last decade. Of the total staff in post, 3.3% were on maternity/paternity leave and 0.6% were on long term sick leave.
• Applied Psychologists were the largest staff group in this workforce, accounting for 59.7% (1041.4 WTE) of clinical staff in post. Since last year, this staff group has grown by 72.7 WTE (7.5%). Other Clinical Staff, comprising Clinical Associates in Applied Psychology, Psychology Assistants and other therapists, accounted for 40.3% (701.6 WTE) of clinical staff in post. Since last year, this staff group has grown by 60.3 WTE (9.4%).
• The vacancy rate was 5.2% (95.3 WTE), a decrease of -78.3 WTE over the last year and of -43.6 over the last quarter. A further 24.2 WTE vacancies were approved for recruitment but not yet advertised. In addition, several boards reported vacant posts that had not yet been approved for recruitment.
• The majority of vacancies, 48.7%, had been advertised for longer than six months, 36.4% for less than three months and 14.9% for three to six months.