There continues to be record numbers of nurses (almost 315,500), doctors (almost 128,400) and NHS staff overall (1.2 million) working in the NHS, putting it in the strongest possible position to rebuild from the long term impacts of the pandemic and tackle the Covid backlog. This is according to the latest provisional data up to March 2022.

Compared to March 2021, there are over 4,300 more doctors and over 10,900 more nurses working in the NHS.

There are now over 1.2 million full-time equivalent staff working in NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups in England - over 28,900 more people compared to a year ago.

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Sajid Javid said:

“It’s fantastic to see another record month for numbers of doctors and nurses working in the NHS.

“Backed by a record £39 billion of additional investment over the next three years, the record numbers will help us to continue tackling the Covid backlog and level up health disparities across the country.

“I’m thankful to all NHS doctors, nurses and healthcare staff for their tireless work and commitment.”

The government recently announced it is over halfway to meeting the manifesto commitment to deliver 50,000 more nurses in the NHS by 2024, and there are now over 30,000 more nurses working across the NHS and general practice since September 2019.

The Department of Health and Social Care has commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term workforce strategy, and will set out the key conclusions of that work in due course.