NHS staff believing career progression is fair at work for all staff
Published
Last updated 14 May 2019 - see all updates
This page has been archived.
It has been replaced by
NHS staff experiences.
There is a new version of this page. View the latest version.
1. Main facts and figures
- in 2017, overall 84% of NHS staff said that their NHS trust gave all staff an equal chance of promotion or career progression – 87% of White staff believed this, compared with 72% of staff from all other ethnic groups combined
- in all 4 broad regions of England, and all 4 types of NHS trust, White staff were more likely than staff from all other ethnic groups combined to say that their trust gave all staff an equal chance of promotion or career progression
Things you need to know
This data shows whether NHS staff thought there was fairness in career progression or promotion in their NHS trust amongst all staff. It does not show whether they felt that they had been treated fairly personally. A member of staff from one ethnic group who sees unfair treatment of a member of staff from another ethnic group may therefore report a perception of unfairness, even if they themselves have been treated fairly.
All NHS trusts have to take part in the NHS Staff Survey, but the number of survey respondents varies between them. Caution should be used when comparing trusts where the results are based on a small number of respondents.
The survey was completed by staff in 235 NHS trusts. Data from 3 of the trusts was excluded from this analysis because they had fewer than 11 respondents from the ‘Other’ ethnic group (that is, staff from all ethnic groups except the White ethnic group), making the results unreliable. This means the percentages shown here are based on 232 trusts (99%), with a total of 312,873 respondents.
Some trusts selected a sample of staff to take part in the survey, while others invited all their staff to respond. Where a trust selected a sample, the sample may not have been representative of all staff in that trust. Staff who completed the survey might have had different experiences at work than staff who didn’t do so.
The data only includes staff who said what their ethnicity was. Staff from some ethnic groups might have been less likely to report their ethnicity or reply to certain survey questions. Therefore, the results may not be representative of all staff working for NHS trusts. No adjustments have been made to the results to compensate for any possible biases.
There is a unknown margin of error around all the estimates presented, so the percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number. The commentary excludes any differences observed in the data of a few percentage points, as they may not indicate real differences. It is possible that some of the larger differences observed in the data, including those which we have commented on, are also within the margin of error, but we’re not able to assess this.
What the data measures
This data shows the percentage of people who, when responding to the NHS Staff Survey in 2017, said their organisation provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion for all staff.
Data is also presented for 4 broad regions in England and the 4 types of NHS trust.
The regions in England are grouped as follows:
- London (covering Greater London)
- Midlands and East (covering the West Midlands, the East Midlands and the East of England)
- North (covering the North West, the North East, and Yorkshire and the Humber)
- South (covering the South East and the South West)
The types of NHS trust are:
- hospital (also known as acute)
- ambulance
- community provider
- mental health
The data does not include staff working in:
- public bodies such as Public Health England and the Care Quality Commission
- independent (non-NHS) healthcare providers
- social enterprises
- clinical commissioning groups
You can see data for each individual trust if you download the data.
The ethnic categories used in this data
For this data, the number of people surveyed (the ‘sample size’) was too small to draw any firm conclusions about specific ethnic categories. Therefore, the data is broken down into the following 2 broad categories to provide better estimates:
- White – White ethnic groups (including White British and White ethnic minorities)
- Other – all other ethnic minorities
2. By ethnicity and area
| Region | All | White | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | |
| All | 84 | 87 | 72 |
| London | 78 | 84 | 68 |
| Midlands & East | 85 | 86 | 73 |
| North | 86 | 87 | 74 |
| South | 87 | 88 | 77 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV)
Summary of NHS staff believing career progression is fair at work for all staff By ethnicity and area Summary
This data shows that:
- overall, 84% of NHS staff said that their trust gave all staff an equal chance of promotion or career progression (based on the responses of those who completed the NHS staff survey and whose ethnicity was known)
- 87% of White staff and 72% of staff from all other ethnic groups combined believed this
- nationally and in each of the 4 regions, White staff were around 1.2 times as likely as staff from the Other ethnic group to say that their trust gave all staff an equal chance of promotion or career progression
3. By ethnicity and type of trust
| Type of NHS trust | All | White | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | |
| Acute Trust | 85 | 87 | 72 |
| Ambulance Trust | 69 | 69 | 53 |
| Community Provider Trust | 89 | 90 | 73 |
| Mental Health Trust | 86 | 88 | 73 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and type of trust’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and type of trust’ (CSV)
Summary of NHS staff believing career progression is fair at work for all staff By ethnicity and type of trust Summary
This data shows that:
- out of all types of NHS trust, ambulance trusts had the lowest percentage of staff from both ethnic groups who said their trust gave all staff an equal chance of promotion or career progression – 69% of White staff and 53% of staff from the Other ethnic group did so
- in community provider, mental health, and hospital (acute) trusts, between 87% and 90% of White staff said their trust gave all staff an equal chance of promotion or career progression, compared with between 72% and 73% of staff from the Other ethnic group
4. Methodology
235 NHS trusts took part in the survey. In 3 trusts, there were fewer than 11 responses from staff in the Other ethnic group, and so the results have not been included. Staff were sent a paper questionnaire or an email containing a link to an online questionnaire.
The regional split represents the regions in place at the time of the survey was carried out.
The survey was administered by the Survey Coordination Centre on behalf of NHS England.
Suppression rules and disclosure control
The data doesn’t include figures from trusts where fewer than 11 staff from either the White or Other ethnic group responded to the survey.
Rounding
Percentages are given to the nearest whole number. You can see unrounded figures if you download the data.
Related publications
NHS workforce NHS staff experiencing discrimination at work
Quality and methodology information
Further technical information
Workforce Race Equality Standard, technical guidance
5. Data sources
Source
Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES)
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
Official statistics
Publisher
NHS England
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The purpose of the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) is to collect information on differences in the experience and treatment of NHS staff depending on their ethnicity, with a view to reducing these differences.
The NHS Staff Survey has been conducted every year since 2003. It asks NHS staff in England about their experiences of working for the NHS. The survey provides information about staff experience across the NHS in England and aims to highlight it to stakeholders and employers. All NHS trusts have to take part in the survey.
6. Download the data
This file contains the following: ethnicity, NHS trust, NHS trust code, geography, NHS trust type, numerator, denominator, value