One in 11 posts in NHS England are currently unfilled, equivalent to almost 100,000 vacancies, official figures show. The high number of unfilled posts has coincided with the NHS coming under immense pressure, with 250,000 more people visiting A&E than in the equivalent three-month period in 2016. NHS providers reported a year-to-date deficit of £1.3bn, moving NHS Improvement to revise its estimate of the year-end deficit to £931m, 88% worse than planned. Saffron Cordery, NHS Providers’ director of policy and strategy, said: “These figures show how the NHS has been pushed to the limit. There were 9,676 full-time equivalent vacancies, with 35% of those filled by agency staff and 65% by bank staff.

Source: The Guardian February 21, 2018 16:54 UTC