Primary Care Workforce Quarterly Update, 30 June 2022, Experimental Statistics

Following the first release in this series in May 2022, we became aware of two features of the files presenting the collated FTE figures that were confusing some users.

Job role groupings

In the first release, the job roles were grouped as ARRS and Non-ARRS roles. These groups were accompanied by the following footnotes to try to make it clear that that roles in the ARRS group would only be covered by the scheme where they were employed by a PCN:

6 ARRS (Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme) roles are ones which PCNs can claim for under the scheme. Not all DPC roles are covered by the scheme, which covers only the PCN workforce and not general practice roles.

7 Roles which exist in both the General Practice and PCN workforces. Where this is an ARRS role, only the PCN role is part of the scheme and subject to claims, though both general practice FTE and  PCN FTE from the NWRS data are included in the collated figure calculations.

However, some users mistakenly interpreted the figures as being the actual number of roles recruited under the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS).

Therefore, we have renamed these groups to make it clearer that this is merely an indication of the data source for the figures. The new groupings are:

• NWRS / ARRS claims portal roles
• NWRS only roles

In the Excel bulletin table this change is reflected by labelling changes only. In the CSV, the column ARRS has been renamed DATA_SOURCE, and values of 'Yes' and 'No' replaced with 'NWRS / ARRS claims portal' and 'NWRS only'.

Net change since March 2019

In the first release, only the collated net change in FTE since March 2019 was presented in the collated figure bulletin tables, since ARRS claims can only be made for additional staff recruited since March 19, and monitoring therefore tends to consider changes net of the baseline.

However,  some users interpreted the figures as being the total current FTE for each job role. Therefore, we have introduced additional tables to the file, presenting the total collated FTE (net change plus the March 2019 FTE) at England and regional levels (tables 1b and 2b).  The previous tables 1 and 2, presenting the collated net change since March 2019, have been renamed 1a and 2a.

Related CSV changes

Also to avoid confusion regarding what the term 'absolute' means in terms of the collated figure, the CSV columns named ALL_NWRS_ABSOLUTE  and COLLATED_FIGURE_ABSOLUTE in the first release have been renamed ALL_NWRS_TOTAL  and COLLATED_FIGURE_TOTAL respectively. 

As Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) were established as statutory bodies from 1st July 2022, this publication will no longer present data at CCG and STP level. From this publication onwards, data will be aggregated to Sub-ICB Location, and ICB level. For further information on these changes please see the following links:

• NHS England - ICBs in England
• Organisation Data Service (ODS) - ICBs

The new 106 Sub-ICB Locations have retained the same codes as the 106 CCGs they have replaced. Similarly, the 42 ICBs retain the codes of the 42 STPs. In the bulletin tables and CSVs accompanying this release, the names of the Sub-ICBs and ICBs have been presented. The official naming convention for the Sub-ICB Locations is the name of the parent ICB followed by the old CCG code. However, to aid users, where there is more than one Sub-ICB Location at an ICB we have suffixed the Sub-ICB name with the name of the CCG they have replaced.

Though there is a one-to-one match of CCGs to Sub-ICB Locations and STPs to ICBs, boundary changes within some areas have resulted in some practices and PCNs moving to different Sub-ICB Locations and ICBs than they would previously have been situated. This means that to allow for historical comparisons, regional time series data needs to be revised, with practices and PCNs mapped to the Sub-ICBs and ICBs they belong to from July 1 2022. 

For this release, CSVs presenting the collated FTE direct patient care staff figures for all reporting periods back to September 2021 have been reproduced to reflect the new structure. National totals are unaffected by this remapping but some figures at Sub-ICB (previously CCG) and ICB (previously STP) levels may differ to those previously published.

Two other name changes in the CSVs are a result of the recent reconfiguration – CCG_CODE has been changed to SUB_ICB_CODE and STP_CODE is now ICB_CODE.

All regional tables in the Excel bulletin table files also reflect the new structure, as at 1 July 2022.