GeraClinic / NHS Staff Vacancy Index / Methodology
How the Gera NHS Staff Vacancy Index is calculated
The index is fully reproducible from the real NHS vacancy rate and a single, disclosed constant. This page gives the exact formula, worked examples, the provenance and the limitations.
The formula
The Gera NHS Staff Vacancy Index (GNSVI) places the official NHS vacancy rate on a common 0–100 severity scale so staff groups and the whole workforce are directly comparable. It is monotonic in the published vacancy rate — the value-add is the common scale, the naming and the ranking, not a hidden model. Higher = more severe shortage.
The single editorial constant
The reference ceiling is 10%: the vacancy rate at which the index reaches 100 (most severe). A 10% vacancy rate means roughly one funded post in ten is unfilled. This is the ONLY editorial choice in the index, and it is disclosed here. Everything else — the vacancy count and the vacancy rate — is the real published NHS figure.
Worked examples
For 30 September 2025, the whole NHS England workforce had a 6.7% vacancy rate (100,023 FTE unfilled):
- Registered Nursing: 6.0% ÷ 10 × 100 = 60 / 100 (25,504 FTE unfilled).
- Medical: 4.4% ÷ 10 × 100 = 44 / 100 (7,248 FTE unfilled).
What the source measures
A vacancy is a funded post that is unfilled by permanent or fixed-term staff; the vacancy rate is that count as a share of the funded establishment. The figures are for NHS England and are reference-dated 30 September 2025 (published 27 November 2025). The NHS classes the series as Experimental Statistics. Regionally, the release reports London had the highest overall vacancy rate at 7.7%.
What this does NOT show
- A post counted as vacant may already be covered by temporary bank or agency staff — this is a workforce gap, not a complete measure of the staffing shortfall.
- It is NHS England only, and not provider- or hospital-level.
- Allied Health Professionals (for example physiotherapists, radiographers and occupational therapists) are counted by the NHS within the broader "Scientific, therapeutic and technical" staff group, which the headline NHS Vacancy Statistics release does not report as a single summary figure. Rather than estimate a number, this index links AHPs to the HCPC registration pathway and points to the full NHS tables for that cut. We do not publish an estimated AHP figure.
- It is not recruitment advice for any individual, and not clinical advice.
Provenance & licence
Contains public sector information published by NHS England and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. The index was last recomputed on 2 July 2026.
Contains public sector information published by NHS England and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: NHS Vacancy Statistics, England, April 2015 – September 2025, Experimental Statistics (30 September 2025, published 27 November 2025).