10. Understanding these data

The sources of data included in this release are not directly comparable but taken together provide a better indication of the overall picture of the migrant healthcare workforce than any single source alone.

Annual Population Survey (APS)

To understand how international migration contributes to the overall healthcare workforce, we have analysed data from the APS, which tells us people’s nationality and country of birth. For consistency with NHS data, we present nationality in the article but also include country of birth in the accompanying data tables.

We use the single-year APS data to explore time trends. To provide detailed information of the characteristics of those working in health care, we use data from the APS three-year pooled dataset. Specifically, this dataset is created by combining data across the years January 2016 to December 2018. The three-year pooled dataset was designed to provide more robust analysis that is not always possible using the single-year APS. The pooled dataset contains a sample size of around 550,000 respondents. The APS is weighted to the UK population totals to be representative of the whole household population. The APS is a household survey and so does not cover most people living in communal establishments, some NHS accommodation, or students living in halls of residence who have non-UK resident parents.

It is not possible to survey all people resident in the UK, so these statistics are estimates based on a sample of people living in households, not on precise figures, and are therefore subject to a margin of uncertainty.

More information about the APS can be found in the Quality and Methodology Information report.

NHS workforce statistics

NHS Digital publish data on NHS Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) staff groups working in Trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in England. In this release we report on the March 2019 data for “professionally qualified clinical staff” and staff groups classed as “support for clinical staff”. We exclude “infrastructure support staff” and “other staff or those with unknown classification”.

The NHS HCHS workforce includes staff working in core NHS organisations (NHS Trusts and CCGs) and wider NHS organisations (central bodies and support organisations). Wider NHS organisations are national and regional organisations set up by the Department of Health and Social Care to manage and support the NHS in England. These data are an accurate summary of the validated data extracted from the NHS’s HR and Payroll system.

General Practice Workforce experimental statistics

General Practice Workforce experimental statistics in England are compiled from data supplied by practices to NHS Digital. The data are currently classified as experimental statistics. The Data Quality Statement published by NHS Digital outlines the data quality. The General Practice workforce includes staff working in General Practices contracted to the NHS in England. Not all doctors who hold the speciality of General Practitioner (GP) are recorded by NHS Digital in their data. Those providing services in the HCHS or in the independent sector are not counted in these data.

General Practice Workforce experimental statistics provide data for GPs, nurses, direct patient care and administrative or non-clinical staff. For the purposes of this release, we exclude administrative and non-clinical staff from the healthcare workforce. Data are available for GPs by country of primary medical qualification, but there are currently no published data to indicate nationality or country of qualification for the non-GP General Practice workforce in England.

GP data are published separately for qualified permanent GPs and GP Registrars by NHS Digital, and they are derived from a different source data. We use headcount data for GPs as full-time equivalent (FTE) data are not published for country of primary medical qualification.

Visa sponsorship data

The Home Office visa data relate to Certificates of Sponsorship used in applications made overseas for Tier 2 (skilled work) entry clearance visas, rather than visas granted, and cover the whole of the UK. They include applications sponsored by both public sector and private sector employers. The analysis presented in this article has been subset based on the Standard Occupational Codes in Annex B.

For more information, please see the User Guide to Home Office Immigration Statistics.

Independent healthcare providers

The Independent Healthcare Provider (IHP) workforce statistics include staff directly employed in a range of independent healthcare organisations in England. They do not represent the entire workforce employed across this sector and do not only show the staff providing NHS commissioned services.

These data are provisional experimental statistics. Data are based on those organisations that provided data to NHS Digital or whose data could be extracted from the Electronic Staff Record.

Experimental statistics

Experimental statistics are new official statistics that are undergoing evaluation and are published to involve users and stakeholders in their development.