Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) nurses and (b) doctors were employed by the NHS in (i) May 2010 and (ii) the most recent month for which data is available.
The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent nurses, including health visitors, and doctors employed by National Health Service trusts and other core organisations in England, as of May 2010 and May 2024:
| May 2010 | May 2024 |
Nurses | 280,950 | 356,581 |
Doctors | 94,742 | 140,968 |
Source: NHS Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England, published by NHS England on a monthly basis.
The data includes staff employed by NHS trusts and other core NHS organisations. It excludes staff directly employed by general practitioner surgeries, local authorities, and other providers such as community interest companies and private providers. More detailed data can be found at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics