Latest Northern Ireland care workforce census published
By News Northern Ireland,

The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) has released details of the Northern Ireland Health and Social Care (HSC) Workforce at 31 March 2014.

This statistical publication presents an analysis of staff in post by occupational family, main location, gender, working pattern and age. Summary information on vacancies is also included.

The publication covers the majority of the Hospital, Community and Social Services workforce (62,603 staff or 53,911 whole-time equivalent [WTE]).

Bank/sessional staff are excluded, as are members of staff on career breaks, Chairpersons/Members of Boards and those recorded with less than 0.03 WTE.

Home helps/domiciliary care staff have also been excluded from this edition, as the use of variable hours contracts prevents their recorded WTE from being an accurate reflection of their contribution to the service.

For the first time, this publication covers staff from the Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency (NIMDTA).

Key Points

  • On 31 March 2014, the HSC employed 62,603 people on either a full-time or part-time basis (all figures excluding Home Helps).
  • The Belfast HSC Trust was the largest Trust and the largest HSC Organisation within Northern Ireland, employing 32% of all HSC staff (17,015 WTE) at March 2014.
  • The largest Occupational Family was Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting with 18,414 WTE. They represented 34% of the workforce by WTE.
  • The Medical and Dental workforce, including NIMDTA, stood at 4,268 (3,913 WTE). 39% (by WTE) were graded as Consultants.
  • Of all staff, 39% (20,872 WTE) were employed in Agenda for Change Pay Bands 1-4.
  • Seventy-nine per cent of staff were female, and 54% (by headcount) worked full-time.

The report is available to download here:  http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/index/stats_research/workforce-statistics/stats-hsc.htm