NHS staff vacancies by organisation and staff group

Standard shorthand is used in this table: [z] = not applicable.

Data values	Data description	Date	Organisation	Staff group
4,803	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	All organisations	All staff groups
418	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	All organisations	Medical and dental (excluding trainees)
2,377	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	All organisations	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (registered)
809	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	All organisations	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (support)
797	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	All organisations	Administration, estates and facilities
280	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	All organisations	Scientific, therapeutic and technical
122	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	All organisations	Ambulance
1,417	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Betsi Cadwaladr	All staff groups
187	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Betsi Cadwaladr	Medical and dental (excluding trainees)
819	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Betsi Cadwaladr	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (registered)
135	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Betsi Cadwaladr	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (support)
130	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Betsi Cadwaladr	Administration, estates and facilities
146	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Betsi Cadwaladr	Scientific, therapeutic and technical
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Betsi Cadwaladr	Ambulance
114	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Powys	All staff groups
12	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Powys	Medical and dental (excluding trainees)
102	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Powys	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (registered)
-15	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Powys	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (support)
-35	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Powys	Administration, estates and facilities
50	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Powys	Scientific, therapeutic and technical
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Powys	Ambulance
718	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Hywel Dda	All staff groups
122	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Hywel Dda	Medical and dental (excluding trainees)
497	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Hywel Dda	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (registered)
82	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Hywel Dda	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (support)
-28	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Hywel Dda	Administration, estates and facilities
46	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Hywel Dda	Scientific, therapeutic and technical
-1	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Hywel Dda	Ambulance
817	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Swansea Bay	All staff groups
39	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Swansea Bay	Medical and dental (excluding trainees)
347	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Swansea Bay	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (registered)
198	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Swansea Bay	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (support)
171	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Swansea Bay	Administration, estates and facilities
64	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Swansea Bay	Scientific, therapeutic and technical
-2	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Swansea Bay	Ambulance
122	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Cwm Taf Morgannwg	All staff groups
45	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Cwm Taf Morgannwg	Medical and dental (excluding trainees)
272	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Cwm Taf Morgannwg	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (registered)
117	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Cwm Taf Morgannwg	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (support)
-188	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Cwm Taf Morgannwg	Administration, estates and facilities
-124	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Cwm Taf Morgannwg	Scientific, therapeutic and technical
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Cwm Taf Morgannwg	Ambulance
513	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Aneurin Bevan	All staff groups
17	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Aneurin Bevan	Medical and dental (excluding trainees)
172	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Aneurin Bevan	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (registered)
229	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Aneurin Bevan	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (support)
78	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Aneurin Bevan	Administration, estates and facilities
17	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Aneurin Bevan	Scientific, therapeutic and technical
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Aneurin Bevan	Ambulance
-59	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Cardiff and Vale	All staff groups
-35	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Cardiff and Vale	Medical and dental (excluding trainees)
108	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Cardiff and Vale	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (registered)
52	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Cardiff and Vale	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (support)
-134	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Cardiff and Vale	Administration, estates and facilities
-54	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Cardiff and Vale	Scientific, therapeutic and technical
4	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Cardiff and Vale	Ambulance
239	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Public Health Wales	All staff groups
28	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Public Health Wales	Medical and dental (excluding trainees)
-2	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Public Health Wales	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (registered)
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Public Health Wales	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (support)
106	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Public Health Wales	Administration, estates and facilities
107	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Public Health Wales	Scientific, therapeutic and technical
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Public Health Wales	Ambulance
114	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Velindre	All staff groups
1	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Velindre	Medical and dental (excluding trainees)
23	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Velindre	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (registered)
10	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Velindre	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (support)
56	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Velindre	Administration, estates and facilities
23	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Velindre	Scientific, therapeutic and technical
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Velindre	Ambulance
255	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust	All staff groups
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust	Medical and dental (excluding trainees)
38	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (registered)
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (support)
93	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust	Administration, estates and facilities
3	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust	Scientific, therapeutic and technical
121	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust	Ambulance
55	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Health Education and Improvement Wales	All staff groups
1	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Health Education and Improvement Wales	Medical and dental (excluding trainees)
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Health Education and Improvement Wales	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (registered)
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Health Education and Improvement Wales	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (support)
51	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Health Education and Improvement Wales	Administration, estates and facilities
3	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Health Education and Improvement Wales	Scientific, therapeutic and technical
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Health Education and Improvement Wales	Ambulance
226	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Digital Health and Care Wales	All staff groups
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Digital Health and Care Wales	Medical and dental (excluding trainees)
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Digital Health and Care Wales	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (registered)
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Digital Health and Care Wales	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (support)
226	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Digital Health and Care Wales	Administration, estates and facilities
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Digital Health and Care Wales	Scientific, therapeutic and technical
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	Digital Health and Care Wales	Ambulance
273	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership	All staff groups
1	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership	Medical and dental (excluding trainees)
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (registered)
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership	Nursing, midwifery and health visiting (support)
270	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership	Administration, estates and facilities
1	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership	Scientific, therapeutic and technical
0	Number of FTE vacancies	31/12/2022	NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership	Ambulance
4,277	Number of FTE vacancies	31/03/2023	All organisations	All staff groups
475	Number of FTE vacancies	31/03/2023	All organisations	Medical and dental (excluding trainees)

Showing 1 to 100 of 2,156 rows

Page 1 of 22

Main information

• Most recent update: 29 October 2025
• Next update expected: January 2026
• Designation: Official statistics in development
• Data provider: Welsh Government
• Data source: No specific source from data provider

Data notes

• Rounding applied:

  The percentages in this release are rounded to the nearest 0.1. Percentage point changes are calculated based on the unrounded numbers.

Overview

• Summary of dataset and variables:

  NHS Wales vacancy statistics are published as experimental statistics as the underpinning data collection process is newly created and continues to be under development while it is being embedded uniformly across all NHS organisations. These statistics include only those staff directly employed by NHS Wales. The statistics exclude primary care contractors such as General Medical Practitioners and Dental Practitioners.

• Data collection or calculation:

  A ‘vacancy’ is defined as the difference between the number of funded full-time equivalent (FTE) posts as recorded on the finance general ledger, and the number of FTE staff in post as recorded on the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) at a point in time. The vacancy rate is the number of vacancies divided by the number of funded FTE posts recorded on the general ledger. Staff groups are determined by the subjective code which is a data item in both the finance general ledger and ESR. It has the same defined list of values which should be applied consistently between both sources. The data collection process was designed and will be developed further in consultation with all NHS organisations. These statistics are published as there is wide public interest. All stakeholders are invited to provide feedback on their suitability and quality as this new process is being developed.

• Statistical quality:

  These statistics are published with a data quality statement that highlights a number of data quality issues. Taken in isolation, some of the issues have the effect of over-estimating of the number of vacancies and some have the effect of under-estimating the number of vacancies. When all the known issues are considered as a whole, it is thought that the issues which result in an under-estimate of the number of vacancies at the Wales-level, have a greater effect on the statistics than the over-estimating effects.

  Data quality statement:

  1. The methodology has been applied consistently across the majority of NHS organisations. It is known that one local health board was unable to supply the number of funded FTE posts through the finance general ledger, but supplied the number of paid FTE staff in post through the finance general ledger as an approximation. This is likely to result in the under-reporting of vacancies in this health board as the number of paid FTE staff is likely to be lower than the number of budgeted FTE staff.
  2. The data collection method also resulted in two other health boards reporting a very low number of vacancies across some staff groups. The reasons for this are being investigated but the data provided is unlikely to be a fully-accurate reflection of vacancies at the time and means that there was a likely under-reporting of vacancies in these health boards.
  3. Any staff recorded as doctors in training, dentists in training, or pre-registration pharmacists, are not included in this release. There are complexities in counting ‘vacancies’ of these types of posts as local health boards hold a budget for these staff but the majority will be employed by NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership through the Single Lead Employer scheme. Health boards can also employ staff coded as trainees directly, without them being formal trainees through the Single Lead Employer. Measuring vacancies of these types of staff will be developed in future months, but the ‘up-take’ of these types of posts may be more accurately measured using ‘fill rates’ which are collected by Health Education and Improvement Wales.
  4. There can be a negative number of vacancies or vacancy rate if the staff in post number on ESR exceeds the budgeted number of staff through finance general ledger. This can happen where an NHS organisation knowingly over-recruits and/or where certain non-recurrent or short-term post funding is not included in the finance general ledger. Where funding for posts exists but is not recorded on the finance general ledger and staff are employed through that funding, the number of vacancies reported would be an under-estimate of the actual number of vacancies in the reference period.
  5. The number of vacancies in the medical and dental staff group may be over-estimated due to differences in how FTEs are counted between the finance general ledger and ESR. A full-time member of this staff group may count as 1 FTE on ESR through their contract defined as 10 sessions per week. However, in practice some staff may work 12 sessions per week and may be recorded as 1.2 FTE on the finance general ledger. This would create a ‘vacancy’ of 0.2 through this data collection process, but in practice there was no vacancy as the staff member worked longer than their contracted hours.
  6. FTE staff in post numbers on ESR do not normally include bank, agency, contractors or other non-payroll staff. This may result in a small over-estimate of the number of vacancies and vacancy rate as there may have been staff delivering services but not recorded on ESR on the reference date.
  7. Vacancies for ‘administration and estates’, and ‘health care assistants and other support staff’ have been published as a combined staff group for 31 December 2022 as there may be some inconsistencies in how certain staff roles are coded between these two staff groups across NHS organisations.
  8. Data for 31 December 2022 does not include the Finance Delivery Unit or the NHS Wales Health Collaborative (which are hosted by Public Health Wales), where just under 180 FTE staff were employed. It is planned that these units will be included in future editions of this statistical release.
  9. As staff move posts, updates to FTEs per subjective code may be more timely on the finance general ledger than they are to the staff in post numbers through ESR. Therefore, there may be a small discrepancy in the number of vacancies reported and the actual number of vacancies on the reference date.
  10. Not all services within local health boards aim to recruit the full number of FTE budgeted staff. Some services may choose to use their staff budget flexibly to deliver their priorities and/or may choose to use their pool of temporary staff (nurse bank, locums, agency) flexibly throughout the year as demands on the service change. Therefore, a small number of reported ‘vacancies’ are planned in some circumstances.
  11. Allocating staff to a subjective code in both the finance general ledger and on ESR involve manual processes and may result in a small number of staff having a mismatch of subjective codes between the two sources.
  12. There are likely to be seasonal effects on the number of vacancies and the vacancy rate, which particularly effects ‘medical and dental’ and the ‘registered nursing, midwifery and health visiting’ staff groups as newly qualified staff graduate (and become available for recruitment) at certain times in the year only.
• Related reports:
  • NHS vacancy statistics

Published by

• Organisation: Welsh Government
• Contact email: stats.healthinfo@gov.wales

Metadata

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