Psychology Workforce NHSScotland

Planned Data Revisions from 30 Sep 2023 to January 2024.  

Information on the workforce employed in NHSScotland Psychology Services is sourced from the Psychology Services Workforce database.  Data are entered by data providers within each Board. Work is undertaken with NHS Boards each quarter to improve data quality. 

We have identified an issue with the Psychology Services Workforce database which has resulted in data inaccuracies as at 30 Sep 2023 and in this release.  The data  affected are marked with a 'p' and should be treated at this time as provisional data subject to planned revisions.

Planned revisions to the data are scheduled for January 2024, and we will be working with the Boards to amend the data.  We expect that the next quarterly release of data scheduled for March 2024 will contain and highlight where these planned revisions have occurred. 

This release by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) provides a quarterly update, as at 30 September 2023, on NHSScotland 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.

As at 30 September 2023:

• There were a total of 1580.0 WTE (1891 headcount) clinical staff in post. This is 49.2% (521.3 WTE)
  higher than in September 2016, 6.9% (102.2 WTE) higher than reported 12 months previously, and
  1.9% (30.1 WTE) lower than the previous quarter. There were a total of 957.0 WTE (1188 headcount)
  Applied Psychologists in post. This is an increase of 2.7% (25.0 WTE) from 30 September 2022 but a
  decrease of 1.2% (11.8 WTE) from 30 June 2023.
• Over the past 12 months, the number of female staff has increased by 99 headcount (6.5%).
  Female staff currently contribute 1335.0 WTE (84.5%) of the total 1580.0 WTE within NHSScotland
  Psychology Services.
• Overall, 51.1% of posts were part-time at the latest census (by headcount). However, patterns of
  whole-time and part-time working vary according to gender: 54.6% of contracts for female staff
  were part-time, compared to 30.8% of contracts for male staff.
• There were 153.6 WTE advertised vacancies, which is 27.1% (57.0 WTE) lower than 30 September
  2022 and 11.5% (20.0 WTE) lower than 30 June 2023. Of these vacancies, 56.1% (86.2 WTE) had
  been advertised for less than three months, 23.4% (35.9 WTE) for three to six months and 20.5%
  (31.5 WTE) for longer than six months. The vacancy rate was 8.9%, compared to 9.7% at 30 June
  2023 and 12.5% at 30 September 2022.
• In September 2023, 85 students started training for the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, 47 at the
  Edinburgh University and 38 at the University of Glasgow. The average DClinPsych intake between
  2003 and 2023 was 60 trainees per year, 35 at the University of Edinburgh and 25 at the University
  of Glasgow.