General practice workforce: as at 30 September 2023
Workforce analysis including headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE) of general practitioners (GPs), nurses and other staff working in general practices, as at 30 September 2023.
This file may not be fully accessible.
In this page
Introduction
The purpose of this release is to provide statistics on the general practice workforce, including staffing levels, workforce flows and staff characteristics.
Statistics are presented for different staff roles by headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE). Headcounts are unique counts of people, which means that if a person works across multiple practices, they are only counted once. FTE is usually the better measure for assessing workforce provision as it counts the number of hours staff are contracted to work, with one FTE equal to 37.5 hours per week for all staff roles aside from trainee GPs.
This release also includes analysis of GPs and wider practice staff by age, gender, ethnicity and Welsh language skills. Additional data tables are published on StatsWales.
The main source of data is the Wales National Workforce Reporting System (WNWRS) and information on data collection processes and statistical quality is available in the quality report.
Summary
On 30 September 2023, the headcount of fully qualified GPs was greater than at any other reference date since directly comparable data was first collected in June 2021. While not a record high, the FTE of fully qualified GPs also increased during the year.
The increase in GPs has largely been driven by an increase in both salaried GPs and GP locums. While more GP partners left general practice than joined, the percentage of staff turnover for GP partners was lower than all other GP types and wider practice staff groups.
The majority of GPs are contracted to part-time working hours and that proportion is higher for female GPs than male GPs.
The number of wider practice staff was the highest on record for both headcounts and FTE. Administrative staff account for more staff than any other staff group and the number of staff in this group increased by more than any other group during the year.
The large majority of wider practice staff were female and from white ethnic groups, though the percentage of staff in these categories decreased slightly from the previous year.
There was also a higher percentage of staff turnover for wider practice staff groups compared to GP types.
Main points
In Wales, on 30 September 2023, there were:
- 378 active GP practices, a decrease of 8 (2.1%) since 30 September 2022.
- 1,592 FTE fully qualified GPs, an increase of 50 (3.3%) since 30 September 2022. This includes partners, providers, salaried, retainers and active locums only.
- 428 FTE GP registrars (trainee GPs), a decrease of 17 (3.9%) since 30 September 2022.
- 5,975 FTE wider practice staff, an increase of 197 (3.4%) since 30 September 2022.
When broken down by specific GP types and staff groups, there were:
- 1,441 FTE GP practitioners, a decrease of 4 (0.3%) since 30 September 2022. This includes partners, providers and salaried GPs only.
- 11 FTE GP retainers, an increase of 1 since 30 September 2022.
- 140 FTE GP locums, an increase of 53 (61.9%) since 30 September 2022. Locums are only counted if they were active and had contracts recorded in the Locum Hub Wales system between 1 July and 30 September 2023.
- 1,050 FTE registered nurses, an increase of 27 (2.6%) since 30 September 2022.
- 955 FTE direct patient care staff (staff who are not GPs or nurses but deliver health services to patients, such as health care assistants, dispensers and pharmacists), an increase of 34 (3.7%) since 30 September 2022.
- 3,971 FTE administrative or other non-clinical practice staff, an increase of 136 (3.5%) since 30 September 2022.
Fully qualified GPs
Full definitions of GP types are included in the quality report. This section only includes data for GPs with contracts as a partner, provider, salaried, retainer or locum. Locums are only counted where they were active in the quarter and had contracts recorded through Locum Hub Wales.
If a GP has more than one contract type, they are only counted once in the headcount of a ‘fully qualified GP’ but the contracted hours for all contracts are counted in the FTE number.
One FTE is the equivalent of 37.5 hours per week for fully qualified GPs. If a single fully qualified GP is contracted to more than 37.5 hours, their FTE will be greater than 1.
Figure 1: Number of fully qualified GPs, headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE) [Note 1], 30 June 2021 to 30 September 2023
Source: Wales National Workforce Reporting System, NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
Number of GPs employed in general practices, by GP type and local health board on StatsWales
[Note 1] FTE data is available from 31 December 2021 only. The FTE number is likely to be a slight underestimate as a small number of GPs have no contracted or working hours recorded. In September 2023, this affected 8 GP contracts.
On 30 September 2023, there were 2,445 (headcount) fully qualified GPs working in Welsh general practices, the highest headcount since directly comparable data was first collected in June 2021.
The headcount has increased for five consecutive quarters and was 2.4% higher than on last day of the previous quarter (30 June 2023) and 4.2% higher than on the same date in the previous year (30 September 2022).
There were 1,592 FTE fully qualified GPs; this is equivalent to 65.1% of the headcount performing full-time hours.
The FTE was 1.0% higher than on the last day of the previous quarter (30 June 2023) and 3.3% higher than on the same date in the previous year (30 September 2022). The proportion of the headcount performing full-time hours was 65.1%, a decrease of 0.6 percentage points from the same date in the previous year. This shows a small decrease in the average number of contracted hours for fully qualified GPs.
There were 5.1 FTE fully qualified GPs per 10,000 population in Wales, marginally higher (0.1) than on the same date in the previous year (30 September 2022).
Considering only fully qualified, permanent GPs (includes partners, providers, salaried and retainers, but excludes locums), the headcount was 2,036, with an associated FTE of 1,452, (or 71.3% of the headcount). When compared to the same date in the previous year (30 September 2022), the headcount increased by 1.8% but the FTE decreased marginally (0.2%).
General practitioners (GPs) by contract type
GPs can be categorised by their contract type. Definitions for each GP type are included in the quality and methodology information section.
If a GP has multiple contracts within the same type, they will be counted once in the headcount for that type but all hours will be counted in the FTE number.
If a GP has multiple contracts with different GP types, they will be counted once in the headcount for each type and the hours for each contract type will be included in the FTE number for the associated contract type only.
For these reasons, the FTE of ‘fully qualified GPs’ is equal to the sum of the FTE for partner/provider, salaried, retainer and locum. However, the headcount is not equal to the sum of the component GP types.
Figure 2: The proportion of fully qualified GPs by GP type (full-time equivalent), 30 September 2023
Description of Figure 2: Pie chart showing that the large majority of fully qualified GPs were permanent staff with two thirds being partners and just under a quarter being salaried GPs, based on their FTE.
Source: Wales National Workforce Reporting System, Locum Hub Wales; NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
Number of GPs employed in general practices, by GP type and local health board on StatsWales
Just more than nine out of ten (91.2%) fully qualified GPs were contracted to permanent roles, based on FTE. This proportion was 3.2 percentage points lower than on 30 September 2022.
66.7% of fully qualified GPs were partners; 6.8 percentage points lower than 30 September 2022. In contrast, the proportion of salaried GPs increased by 3.6 percentage points to 23.8% and GP locums increased by 3.2 percentage points to 8.8% of the FTE for all fully qualified GPs.
Retainers accounted for 0.7% of the FTE for all fully qualified GPs, unchanged from 30 September 2022.
Figure 3: Headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE) [Note 1] by GP type, 30 June 2021 to 30 September 2023
Description of Figure 3: Line charts showing that the majority of GPs (both headcount and FTE) are partners. However, partners have been on a downward trend over the time series; in contrast, salaried GPs, locum GPs and registrars all show upward trends over the time series for both measures.
Source: Wales National Workforce Reporting System, Locum Hub Wales, NHS Electronic Staff Record (ESR); NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
Number of GPs employed in general practices, by GP type and local health board on StatsWales
[Note 1] The FTE number is likely to be a slight underestimate as a small number of GPs have no contracted or working hours recorded. In September 2023, this affected 8 GP contracts.
[Note 2] Locums are counted if they had any work recorded through Locum Hub Wales at any point during the quarter which ended on the reference date only.
[Note 3] A standard contract for a registrar is for 40 hours per week, therefore registrars’ FTE are based on a 40-hour week, whereas the FTE for all other GPs is based on 37.5 hours per week.
On 30 September 2023, there were 1,381 GP partners (headcount), an annual decrease of 5.3%. The FTE of GP partners was 1,061, an annual decrease of 6.3%.
There were 628 salaried GPs (headcount), an annual increase of 21.7%. Salaried GPs were typically contracted to fewer hours than GP partners, and the FTE for salaried GPs was 380, an annual increase of 21.6%.
572 different GPs had GP locum contracts recorded on Locum Hub Wales during the quarter 1 July 2023 to 30 September 2023, an annual increase of 20.7%. As locum work is temporary, the associated FTE is proportionately lower than permanent GP types and in the latest quarter the GP locum FTE was 140, an annual increase of 61.9%.
Of the 572 GPs with locum work recorded in the quarter, 28.5% also had a permanent contract on the reference date (66 were GP partners, 96 were salaried GPs, and 2 were GP retainers). Any locum work which was not recorded through Locum Hub Wales is not included in these statistics. This may include locum work in health board managed practices, see the quality report for more information.
Data on StatsWales also shows that there were 40 F2 trainee doctors (both headcount and FTE) on work placements in general practices on 30 September 2023.
Fully qualified GPs workforce flows
This section provides analysis of how fully qualified GPs have moved between roles or have left or joined the workforce since the same reference date in the previous year.
A member of staff is defined as having joined the workforce if they were contracted to work as a fully qualified GP in a general practice on 30 September 2023 but not contracted to work as a fully qualified GP on 30 September 2022.
A member of staff is defined as having left the workforce if they were contracted to work as a fully qualified GP in a general practice on 30 September 2022 but not contracted to work as a fully qualified GP on 30 September 2023.
Figure 4: Fully qualified GP, full time equivalents (FTE) [Note 1] joiners and leavers between 30 September 2022 and 30 September 2023 [Note 2] [Note 3], by GP type
Description of Figure 4: Bar chart showing there were more fully qualified GP joiners than leavers. Considering different GP types, there were more joiners than leavers in the salaried GP, locum GP and GP retainer roles, but more leavers than joiners in the GP partner role.
Source: Wales National Workforce Reporting System, Locum Hub Wales; NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
[Note 1] Locums are counted if they had any work recorded through Locum Hub Wales at any point during the quarter which ended on the reference date only.
[Note 2] This chart will not count staff who joined after 30 September 2022 but left before 30 September 2023.
[Note 3] The difference between the number of FTE staff joining and leaving may not necessarily equal the change in the number of FTE staff working between 30 September 2022 and 30 September 2023 as staff who were present on both reference dates could have changed their contracted hours.
160.4 FTE fully qualified GPs joined the workforce and 97.7 FTE fully qualified GPs left the workforce between 30 September 2022 and 30 September 2023.
Of the 160.4 FTE joiners, 109.0 FTE (or 68.0%) joined as a salaried GP, 28.8 (18.0%) joined as a GP locum, 20.1 (12.5%) joined as a GP partner and 2.4 (1.5%) joined as a GP retainer.
On 30 September 2023, 1.9% of GP partners FTE had joined during the previous twelve months, compared to 28.7% of salaried GPs, 21.7% of GP retainers and 20.6% of GP locums.
Of the 97.7 FTE leavers, 60.5 FTE (or 61.9%) were previously partners, 25.6 (26.2%) were salaried GPs, 10.7 (10.9%) were GP locums, and 0.9 (0.9%) were GP retainers.
Of the GP partners who were contracted on 30 September 2022, 5.3% left general practice during the following 12 months, based on FTE. This compares to 8.2% of salaried GPs, 8.8% of GP retainers and 12.4% of GP locums.
For every one salaried GP that left the workforce, more than four salaried GPs joined the workforce; in contrast for every 1 GP partner that joined the workforce, approximately 3 GP partners left the workforce.
Figure 5: FTE fully qualified GP [Note 1] workforce joiners and leavers between 30 September 2022 and 30 September 2023 [Note 2] [Note 3], by age group
Description of Figure 5: Bar chart showing that fully qualified GPs who joined the workforce tended to be younger than those who left.
Source: Wales National Workforce Reporting System, Locum Hub Wales; NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
[Note 1] The age was not known for 9% of FTE fully qualified GPs that joined the workforce and 4% of FTE fully qualified GPs that left the workforce. These GPs are excluded from this chart and the denominator in any percentage calculations.
[Note 2] Locums are counted if they had any work recorded through Locum Hub Wales at any point during the quarter which ended on the reference date only.
[Note 3] This chart will not capture cases in which a GP joined after 30 September 2022 and left before 30 September 2023.
Just more than seven out of ten (71.2%) fully qualified GPs that joined the workforce in the twelve months to 30 September 2023, were aged between 30 to 39, based on FTE. The new joiners’ FTE decreased in each subsequent age group.
Leavers were more evenly distributed across age groups with the most common band being 50 to 59 (31.4%).
Figure 6: Movement of FTE fully qualified GPs between 30 September 2022 and 30 September 2023 [Note 1]
Description of Figure 6: Sankey chart showing the majority of GPs contracted on 30 September 2023 were working as the same GP type on the same date in the previous year. The largest flows were new joiners becoming salaried GPs and locum GPs; the largest flow between different GP types was salaried GPs becoming GP partners.
Source: Wales National Workforce Reporting System, Locum Hub Wales; NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
Annual fully qualified GP workforce flows (full-time equivalent) on StatsWales
[Note 1] Chart summarises FTE data for the 91% of GPs who had one contract on 30 September 2023 and one contract on 30 September 2022, or who were new joiners to general practice in the twelve months to 30 September 2023. Those with multiple contract types and those who left general practice are not included.
The right-hand side of the Sankey chart shows the composition of all fully qualified GPs on 30 September 2023 based on the method in ‘Note 1’. The left-hand side of the chart shows what GP types the same GPs were on 30 September 2022. The centre of the chart shows the ‘flows’ between GP types, with the height of the flow bars proportional to the size of the movement of the GPs’ FTE. The chart can be used to estimate workforce flows of the whole GP workforce.
On 30 September 2023, it is estimated that 96.0% of GP partners were also GP partners on the same date in the previous year. This includes GP partners who increased their contracted hours from the previous year. The remaining 4% were previously not working in a Welsh general practice (2.0%); salaried GPs (1.5%); or GP locums (0.5%).
62.0% of salaried GPs were also salaried GPs on the same date in the previous year. The large majority of the remaining salaried GPs were previously not working in Welsh general practices (33.0%); while 3.0% were GP locums and 2.0% were partners.
Nearly two thirds (65.5%) of GP locums were also GP locums on the same date in the previous year. A quarter (25.5%) were not previously working in Welsh general practices, while 8.0% were previously partners and 2.0% were salaried.
Three quarters (75.0%) of GP retainers were also GP retainers on the same date in the previous year. 22.5% were not previously working in Welsh general practices, while 2.0% were previously salaried.
Characteristics of fully qualified GPs
This section includes data on GPs with contracts as a partner, provider, salaried, retainer or locum only.
Figure 7: Percentage of fully qualified GPs [Note 1] headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE), by gender, 31 December 2020 to 30 September 2023 [Note 2]
Description of Figure 7: Line charts showing that more fully qualified GPs were female than male when measured by both headcount and FTE, with broadly stable trend over the time series.
Source: Wales National Workforce Reporting System, Locum Hub Wales; NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
Fully qualified GPs (headcount and full-time equivalent) by sex and local health board on StatsWales
[Note 1] Data only presented where values of male or female for the data item ‘gender’ were reported. On 30 September 2023, 182 (or 7%) GPs had their gender recorded as ‘other/unknown’. As we are not able to separate out these two categories, they are not included in the charts or in the denominator in the percentage calculations.
[Note 2] Locums are counted if they had any work recorded through Locum Hub Wales at any point during the quarter which ended on the reference date only.
On 30 September 2023, nearly six out of ten (57.4%) of the fully qualified GPs headcount were female while just more than four out of ten (42.6%) were male. The percentage of female GPs decreased by 0.5 percentage points and the percentage of male GPs increased by 0.5 percentage points when compared to 30 September 2022.
When comparing FTEs, 53.2% of fully qualified GPs were female GPs and 46.8% were male GPs. The FTE is 4.2 percentage points lower than the headcount for female GPs and 4.2 percentage points higher for male GPs. This means that male GPs typically had longer contracted hours than female GPs.
When all contracted hours were summed for each GP, 92.8% of female GPs were part-time (contracted to fewer than 37.5 hours per week), compared to 80.4% of male GPs.
Figure 8: Fully qualified GPs [Note 1] headcount by age and gender, 30 September 2023 [Note 2]
Description of Figure 8: Bar chart showing that there was a higher concentration of younger, female GPs than male; and a higher concentration of older, male GPs than female.
Source: Wales National Workforce Reporting System, Locum Hub Wales; NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
Fully qualified GPs (headcount and FTE) by age band and local health board on StatsWales
Fully qualified GPs (headcount and full-time equivalent) by sex and local health board on StatsWales
[Note 1] The gender and/or age is not known for 7% of fully qualified GPs and they are excluded from Figure 8. The majority of these GPs were locums.
[Note 2] Locums are counted if they had any work recorded through Locum Hub Wales at any point during the quarter which ended on the reference date only.
Nearly two thirds (63.1%) of the fully qualified GPs, with a known age and gender, aged up to 49 were female. The 50 to 59 age group was more evenly split with 52.0% female and 48.0% male GPs, and the majority of GPs aged 60 or older were male (69.2%).
5.9% of all GPs with known age and sex were aged 60 to 64, and 3.0% were aged 65 or older.
Figure 9: Percentage of fully qualified GPs [Note 1] headcount and FTE, by ethnicity, 31 December 2020 to 30 September 2023 [Note 2]
Description of Figure 9: Line chart showing that the large majority of fully qualified GPs were recorded in white ethnic groups, though the trend is downwards over the time series. The largest ethnic minority group was Asian or Asian British, followed by other ethnic groups, black or black British, and mixed ethnic groups.
Source: Wales National Workforce Reporting System, Locum Hub Wales; NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
Fully qualified GPs (headcount and FTE by ethnicity) on StatsWales
[Note 2] Locums are counted if they had any work recorded through Locum Hub Wales at any point during the quarter which ended on the reference date only.
On 30 September 2023, a little more than eight out of ten (80.6%) fully qualified GPs (headcount) were from a white ethnic background. This has steadily decreased from 82.6% in September 2022. Asian or Asian British was the largest ethnic group within GPs of minority ethnic background (13.0% of all fully qualified GPs).
When measured by FTE, just under eight out of ten (79.9%) fully qualified GPs were from a white ethnic background, a decrease of 2.1 percentage points from September 2022; 13.8% were from an Asian or Asian British ethnic group, a slight increase of 0.3 percentage points from September 2022.
The FTE is consistently greater than the headcount for fully qualified GPs from an Asian or Asian British ethnic background. This reflects that GPs from an Asian or Asian British ethnicity are contracted to work more hours on average than GPs in other ethnic groups.
There is greater ethnic diversity among fully qualified GPs working in Wales than in the general population of Wales. 19.4% of GPs are from black, Asian, mixed or other ethnic backgrounds, compared to 5.0% of people living in Wales according to the Annual Population Survey (StatsWales) (year ending June 2023) or 6.2% according to the Census 2021 (ONS).
Figure 10: Percentage of fully qualified GPs (headcount) by Welsh speaking skills [Note 1], 31 December 2020 to 30 September 2023 [Note 2]
Description of Figure 10: Line chart showing that the large majority of fully qualified GPs reported that they had no Welsh speaking skills, although the percentage with no skills has been decreasing over time.
Source: Wales National Workforce Reporting System, Locum Hub Wales; NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
[Note 1] Excludes records where the Welsh speaking skill is not known. In September 2023, 39% of fully qualified GPs had missing Welsh language data and were excluded from the denominator in the percentage calculation of the known Welsh language categories. A large percentage of GPs with missing data were GP locums.
[Note 2] Locums are counted if they had any work recorded through Locum Hub Wales at any point during the quarter which ended on the reference date only.
Most GPs (82.1%) reported that they had no Welsh speaking skills on 30 September 2023.
Just more than one in ten (11.9%) fully qualified GPs reported that they had higher or proficient Welsh speaking skills and just over one in twenty (6.0%) reported entry to intermediate level Welsh speaking skills.
The percentage of fully qualified GPs who have any Welsh speaking skills was 17.9% on 30 September 2023. This is an increase of 2.3 percentage points from the same date in the previous year.
The percentage of GPs who reported that they had any Welsh speaking skills is marginally higher than the percentage of Welsh population who were able to speak Welsh, based on the Census 2021 (StatsWales). However, it is lower than the 29.2% of people who reported some Welsh speaking skills in September 2023 through the Annual Population Survey (StatsWales).
As the data collection processes for Welsh language information is different across all three sources, the strength of direct comparisons is limited. The statistics are presented here as they are the best available and should be used to show an indication of the differences between Welsh speaking skills of general practice staff and of people living in Wales.
Wider practice staff
To deliver primary care services, GPs work closely with other professionals employed in GP practices including nurses, pharmacists, managers, administrators and others involved in direct patient care. This section provides statistics on the number of staff employed in non-GP staff roles within general practices.
As with fully qualified GPs, one FTE is the equivalent to a contract of a 37.5 hours per week. If a member of staff is contracted to more than 37.5 hours, their FTE will be greater than 1.
If a person held multiple contracts at the same or different practices, they would be counted once in the headcount but all contracted hours would be counted in the FTE number.
Figure 11: Number of wider practice staff, headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE) [Note 1], 31 March 2020 to 30 September 2023
Description of Figure 11: Line chart showing the headcount and FTE of wider practice staff has gradually increased over time, reaching the highest numbers on record on the latest reference date (30 September 2023).
Source: Wales National Workforce Reporting System; NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
[Note 1] FTE data first available from 31 December 2021. 1.1% of records had no contract or working hours recorded on 30 September 2023. Therefore, the FTE number is likely to be a slight underestimate.
On 30 September 2023, there were 8,243 wider practice staff (headcount) working in general practices in Wales, an increase of 3.4% from 30 September 2022.
Directly comparable FTE data for wider practice staff was first collected in December 2021. There were 5,975 FTE wider practice staff on 30 September 2023, also 3.4% higher than on 30 September 2022.
The wider practice staff FTE is equivalent to 72.5% of the headcount doing full-time work. This percentage is 7.4% higher than the percentage for fully qualified permanent GPs.
On 30 September 2023, there were 19.1 FTE wider practice staff per 10,000 population in Wales.
Wider practice staff groups
Wider practice staff can be categorised by their staff group. Data on individual job types within each staff group are published on StatsWales.
When an individual has more than one contract within the same staff group, they are counted once in the headcount, but all contracted hours are counted in the FTE number.
When an individual has multiple contracts in different staff groups, they are counted in the headcount for each staff group and their contracted hours are counted in the FTE numbers for the associated staff group only.
Figure 12: Headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE) [Note 1] by wider practice staff group, 31 March 2020 to 30 September 2023
Description of Figure 12: Line charts showing that the number of administrative and direct patient care staff has been increasing over the time series, while the number of nurses has been more stable.
Source: Wales National Workforce Reporting System; NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
[Note 1] FTE data starts from 31 December 2021. 1.4% of nurse, 1.1% direct patient care, and 1.0% administrative records had no contract or working hours recorded on 30 September 2023. Therefore, the FTE number is likely be a slight underestimate.
On 30 September 2023, the largest staff group was administrative/non-clinical staff, with a headcount of 5,514, nearly double the combined nurse (1,443) and direct patient care (1,356) headcounts.
Administrative staff headcounts increased by 3.8% from 30 September 2022, the largest increase of all wider practice staff groups. The number of direct patient care staff increased by 3.5% and nurses increased by 1.7%.
The three groups of wider practice staff were contracted to broadly similar proportions of full-time hours, relative to their headcounts. Nurses worked the equivalent of 1,050 FTE hours (72.8% of their headcount), administrative staff worked 3,971 FTE hours (72.0% of their headcount) and direct patient care staff worked 955 FTE hours (70.4% of their headcount).
Compared to September 2022, the FTE of direct patient care staff increased by 3.7%; compared to increases of 3.5% for administrative staff and 2.6% for nurses.
Wider practice staff: joiners and leavers
This section includes data on wider practice staff who have left or joined the workforce since the same quarter in the previous year, based on FTE.
A member of staff is defined as having joined the workforce during this time if they were contracted to work in a wider practice staff group on 30 September 2023 but not contracted to work in the same staff group on 30 September 2022.
A member of staff is defined as having left the workforce during this time if they were contracted to work in a wider practice staff group on 30 September 2022 but not contracted to work in the same staff group on 30 September 2023.
Figure 13: FTE wider practice staff joiners and leavers between 30 September 2022 and 30 September 2023 [Note 1] [Note 2], by staff group
Description of Figure 13: Bar chart showing that there were more joiners than leavers in each of the nursing, direct patient care and admin staff groups.
Source: Wales National Workforce Reporting System; NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
Wider practice staff (full-time equivalent) joiners and leavers by staff group, sex and age band on StatsWales
[Note 1] This chart will not count staff who joined after 30 September 2022 but left before 30 September 2023.
[Note 2] The difference between the number of FTE staff joining and leaving may not necessarily equal the change in the number of FTE staff working between 30 September 2022 and 30 September 2023 as staff who were present on both reference dates could have changed their contracted hours.
There were more joiners than leavers in each of the three wider practice staff groups. There was a net gain of 136.4 FTE for administrative staff; 35.1 FTE nursing staff; and 34.5 FTE direct patient care staff when comparing the FTE of staff who joined the workforce in the twelve months to 30 September 2023 and the staff who left the workforce in the twelve months after 30 September 2022.
On 30 September 2023, 18.0% of nurses FTE had joined during the previous twelve months, compared to 19.5% of direct patient care staff and 22.2% of administrative staff.
Of the nurses who were contracted on 30 September 2022, 15.1% left general practice during the following 12 months based on FTE. This compares to 16.5% of direct patient care staff and 19.5% of administrative staff.
For all wider practice staff in total, there were 1,258 FTE joiners to the workforce and 1,052 FTE leavers. This is not equal to the sum of the counts from the nurses, direct patient care and administrative/non-clinical sub-groups as some staff moved between different types of roles during this time while remaining in the overall general practice workforce.
Figure 14: FTE wider practice staff workforce joiners and leavers between 30 September 2022 and 30 September 2023 [Note 1], by age group
Description of Figure 14: Bar charts showing that the age distribution of joiners and leavers was relatively similar for each wider practice staff group, with some small variations. Staff who joined the workforce tended to be younger than those who left, although the age distribution for joiners and leavers are more evenly spread compared to fully qualified GPs.
Source: Wales National Workforce Reporting System; NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
Wider practice staff (full-time equivalent) joiners and leavers by staff group, sex and age band on StatsWales
[Note 1] This chart will not count staff who joined after 30 September 2022 but left before 30 September 2023.
A quarter (24.7%) of all wider practice staff that joined the workforce were aged under 30 and another quarter (25.8%) were aged 30 to 39.
Wider practice staff who left general practice were relatively evenly distributed between age groups, with the highest percentage in the 50 to 59 age group (25.7%).
There were some variations in the age profile for staff joining different staff groups. Over half (54.9%) of direct patient care staff that joined were aged under 40; however, the majority of nurse joiners (59.1%) were aged 40 or older.
Characteristics of wider practice staff
Figure 15: The percentage of wider practice staff groups by gender (headcount), 31 December 2020 to 30 September 2023 [Note 1]
Description of Figure 15: Line charts showing that large majority of staff in all three wider practice staff groups were female, although this percentage has been on a marginal downward trend since the start of the time series.
Source: Wales National Workforce Reporting System; NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
[Note 1] Data only presented where values of male or female were reported. On 30 September 2023, 11 (or 1%) nurses, 7 (1%) direct patient care staff and 38 (1%) admin staff had their gender recorded as ‘other/unknown’. As we are not able to separate out these two categories, they are not included in the charts or in the denominator in the percentage calculations.
On 30 September 2023, 96.6% of nurses in general practice were female, unchanged from the same date in 2022, but 0.4 percentage points lower than the same date in 2021.
89.2% of direct patient care staff were female, 0.9 percentage points lower than on the same date in 2022 and 0.9 percentage points lower than on the same date in 2021.
95.0% of administrative staff were female, 0.1 percentage points lower than on the same date in 2022, but 0.2 percentage points higher than on the same date in 2021.
FTE data published on StatsWales shows that on 30 September 2023, the percentage of FTE female staff was slightly smaller than the female headcount for nurses and direct patient care staff, as female staff typically had fewer contracted hours than male staff. For admin staff, the proportion of female FTE was slightly higher than the headcount.
Figure 16: Headcount of wider practice staff by age group, 30 September 2023
Description of Figure 16: Bar charts showing that the age distribution of nurse, direct patient care and administrative staff follows a similar pattern, with some small variations. The 50 to 59 age group has the most staff for all staff groups and the under 30 age group has the least staff for all staff groups.
Source: Wales National Workforce Reporting System; NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
Wider practice staff (headcount and FTE) by age band and local health board on StatsWales
On 30 September 2023, fewer than one in twenty (4.2%) of nurses in general practice were younger than 30. Close to six out of ten (57.2%) were aged between 40 and 59, while a fifth (19.7%) were 60 or older.
There were higher concentrations of direct patient care staff in younger age groups than the other two staff groups. A third (33.0%) were aged 39 or younger while 14.7% were aged 60 or older.
Three out of ten (30.1%) administrative staff were aged 39 or younger, while just over half (53.0%) were aged 50 or over, including 21.5% of staff aged 60 or over.
Figure 17: The percentage of wider practice staff groups [Note 1] headcount by ethnicity, 30 September 2023
Description of Figure 17: Bar charts showing that a large majority of nurses, direct patient care and admin staff were recorded in white ethnic groups with small differences between headcount and FTE measures.
Source: Wales National Workforce Reporting System; NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
Wider practice staff (headcount and FTE) by ethnicity on StatsWales
[Note 1] Excludes records where the ethnicity is not known. On 30 September 2023, the ethnicity was not known for 10% of nurses, 9% of direct patient staff and 8% of administrative staff. These staff are excluded from the denominator in the percentage calculation of the known ethnicity groups.
On 30 September 2023, 98.0% of nurses (headcount) were from a white ethnic group, 0.2 percentage points lower than on the same date in the previous year and 1.0 percentage points lower than on the same date in 2021. Of those from a minority ethnic background, most were from an Asian or Asian British or black or black British ethnic background (both 0.6%). There was no difference between in the distribution of staff by ethnic groups when using headcount and FTE.
96.0% of direct patient care staff were from a white ethnic background, a decrease of 1.3 percentage points from the same date in the previous year and a decrease of 1.6 percentage points from the same date in 2021. Of those from a minority ethnic background, most were from an Asian or Asian British background (1.8%). When measured by FTE, the percentage from a white ethnic background was marginally lower at 96.0%.
97.8% of administrative/non-clinical staff were from a white ethnic group, largely unchanged from the same dates in the previous two years. Of those from a minority ethnic background, most were from an Asian or Asian British background (1.0%). When measured by FTE, the percentage from a white ethnic background was marginally higher at 98.0%.
All wider staff groups had a lower percentage of people from black, Asian, mixed or other ethnic backgrounds than the general population of Wales (5.0% year ending June 2023, Annual Population Survey (StatsWales); or 6.2% from Census 2021 (ONS)).
Figure 18: Percentage of wider practice staff groups by headcount, by Welsh speaking skills [Note 1], 31 December 2020 to 30 September 2023
Description of Figure 18: Line charts showing that the large majority of nurses, direct patient care and admin staff reported that they had no Welsh speaking skills, although this percentage has decreased over time.
Source: Wales National Workforce Reporting System; NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
[Note 1] Excludes records where the Welsh language skill is not known. On 30 September 2023, the Welsh speaking skill was not known for 46% of nurses, 44% of direct patient staff and 47% of administrative staff. These staff are excluded from the denominator in the percentage calculation of the known Welsh language categories.
The percentage of staff recorded as having any Welsh speaking skills has increased in all wider practice staff groups over the previous two years; however the percentage of staff with incomplete Welsh language data has also increased over the time period which limits the quality of these statistics.
On 30 September 2023, 19.6% of nurses (where Welsh speaking skills were recorded) reported some Welsh speaking skills, an increase of 2.0 percentage points from the same date in the previous year and an increase of 3.3 percentage points from the same date two years ago.
19.8% of direct patient care staff reported some Welsh speaking skills, an increase of 1.9 percentage points from the same date in the previous year and an increase of 1.4 percentage points from the same date two years ago.
16.8% of administrative staff reported some Welsh speaking skills, an increase of 3.1 percentage points from the same date in the previous year and an increase of 3.5 percentage points from the same date two years ago.
The largest increases for each staff group were in the ‘higher or proficient skills’ category.
17.8% of the Welsh population were able to speak Welsh according to the Census 2021 (StatsWales). The percentage of nurses and direct patient care staff who had any Welsh speaking skills was slightly higher than the Welsh population, using the Census measure.
The Annual Population Survey (StatsWales) also estimates that 29.2% of people living in Wales had some Welsh speaking skills (September 2023). All three staff groups had a lower percentage of staff with some Welsh speaking skills than the Wales population when compared with this measure.
As the data collection processes for Welsh language information is different across all three sources, the strength of direct comparisons is limited. The statistics are presented here as they are the best available and should be used to show an indication of the differences between Welsh speaking skills of general practice staff and of people living in Wales.
Cross-border patient flows
This section provides statistics on the number people who access general practice services across the Wales/England border.
Figure 19: Cross-border patient flows, January 2020 to October 2023
Description of Figure 19: Line chart showing that a larger number of English resident patients are registered to Welsh general practices than Welsh residents registered to English general practices. The number for both measures has remained broadly stable since January 2020.
Source: National Health Application and Infrastructure Services (NHAIS), NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
[Note 1] No data was extracted for April 2022.
As of October 2023, there were 21,184 English residents registered to general practices in Wales, and 13,427 Welsh residents registered to general practices in England.
The net flow of patients into Welsh general practices was 7,757 in October 2023. This number has remained broadly stable since data was first available in January 2020, ranging from 7,102 in January 2020 to 8,387 in July 2022.
Quality and methodology information
Detailed quality information and a glossary of terms is published in the statistical quality report.
Well-being of Future Generations Act (WFG)
The Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 is about improving the social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing of Wales. The Act puts in place seven wellbeing goals for Wales. These are for a more equal, prosperous, resilient, healthier and globally responsible Wales, with cohesive communities and a vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language. Under section (10)(1) of the Act, the Welsh Ministers must (a) publish indicators (“national indicators”) that must be applied for the purpose of measuring progress towards the achievement of the wellbeing goals, and (b) lay a copy of the national indicators before Senedd Cymru. Under section 10(8) of the Well-being of Future Generations Act, where the Welsh Ministers revise the national indicators, they must as soon as reasonably practicable (a) publish the indicators as revised and (b) lay a copy of them before the Senedd. These national indicators were laid before the Senedd in 2021. The indicators laid on 14 December 2021 replace the set laid on 16 March 2016.
Information on the indicators, along with narratives for each of the wellbeing goals and associated technical information is available in the Well-being of Wales report.
Further information on the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.
The statistics included in this release could also provide supporting narrative to the national indicators and be used by public services boards in relation to their local wellbeing assessments and local wellbeing plans.