News alert / Workforce statistics released (Wales)
The NHS workforce in Wales cost £5.64bn in 2022/23, with £325m spent on agency staff, according to a data briefing from Audit Wales. The service in Wales employs 91,404 full time equivalent staff and it is estimated that 1.4 million working days were lost to sickness absence in 2022. There are fewer doctors per 1,000 population in Wales (4.1) compared with England (4.4) and Scotland (4.35). Staff turnover has increased in recent years, with 10,000 FTE staff leaving NHS bodies in 2021/22 – a quarter of these leaving nursing and midwifery roles. Just over a quarter of all leavers were due to retirement, while one in five resigned because of relocation or work-life balance.
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