Cardiac Workforce Census 2023-2024
We ran a census of the cardiac workforce in England, in partnership with the British Cardiovascular Society. See the summary of our findings below.
Key findings among consultant cardiologists
Most common subspecialties
The most common consultant subspecialties reported in the census were:
- interventional cardiology (35.2%)
- electrophysiology and/or device therapy (19.9%)
- cardiac imaging (17.9%)
- heart failure (12.2%).
Bar chart showing the most commonly reported subspecialties of consultant cardiologists
Age trends
The ages of cardiac clinical nurse specialists vary depending on their specialty.
1 in 4 cardiac rehab nurses in our census were aged 56 or over. This was at least double the percentage of the other 5 specialties. For example, just 1 in 10 nurses working in inherited cardiac conditions were aged 56 and over.
Across all specialties, nurses aged 56 or over were least likely to work full time. These age trends are concerning as many of these nurses will likely retire in the next 5 to 10 years, especially as some nurses are eligible for retirement from the age of 55.
Bar chart showing the age range of cardiac clinical nurse specialists by speciality
Age trends
It is important to consider staff who might be planning for retirement, and to plan ahead for their succession. Some subspecialties may consist of staff who are particularly likely to retire in the next 5 to 10 years. According to our census, the following proportions of cardiologists were aged 56 or over:
- 33% of academic cardiologists
- 26% of congenital heart disease cardiologists
- 23% of interventional cardiologists.
This issue might be worsened by the fact that some subspecialties had particularly high staff intakes around 20 to 30 years ago. These subspecialties might see greater numbers retiring around the same time.
Gender inequalities
Fewer than 1 in 5 consultant cardiologists in our census were female. This is a lower proportion than many other medical specialities in the UK.1
While female representation is better at trainee level than consultant level, it will take some time for this to turn into consultant numbers, and still would not be as high as we would like.
Subspecialties with a low proportion of female cardiology consultants were:
- interventional cardiology (8.2% female)
- structural heart intervention (6.5% female)
- academic cardiology (6.7% female).
The low proportion of female academics is particularly concerning. Our previous review of BHF grant funding diversity data found that 17% of applicants for clinical study and programme awards were female.2
This is much lower than the proportion of female academic researchers in the UK biosciences.
Bar chart showing the percentage of consultant cardiologists with listed subspecialty who are female
Our census also shows that male consultants are contracted to work more hours per week than female consultants on average. The following proportion of each gender were found to be contracted to work the equivalent of typically 52 hours or more each week:
- 1 in 2 (50.1%) male consultants
- Under 1 in 3 (27.8%) female consultants.
Key findings among cardiac clinical nurse specialists
Gender inequalities
Around 9 in 10 nurse specialists in our census were female. However, there was some variation depending on various factors.
Male nurses were most common in the following subspecialties:
- rapid access chest pain (16.8%)
- arrhythmia (14.7%).
Around half of female nurse specialists work full time, in comparison to 80% of male nurse specialists.
Male cardiac clinical nurse specialists are also more likely to be in a role in pay band 8. These are highly specialised roles with salaries ranging from £50,952 to £96,376. The census found that 13.6% of male specialist nurses are in band 8 posts, compared to 8.9% of female nurse specialists. The census shows that male nurses are more likely to be working full time and in higher pay bands than females. This is despite them making up a significantly smaller proportion of nurse specialists.
Bar chart showing pay banding of cardiac clinical nurse specialists, by gender
Vacancies
Cardiac clinical nurse specialist vacancies were low in our census, with:
- 2.3% of posts being vacant
- 0.1% filled by agency or bank staff who take on temporary shift work.
The low number of bank staff is likely because they will not have the specialist training needed for specific types of cardiac care. Four of these posts have been vacant for over a year.
Our recommendations
The findings of this census show the value of collecting, collating, and analysing information on the cardiac workforce.
This includes areas where little or no information publicly exists, such as on cardiologist subspecialties and cardiac clinical nurse specialists. We believe these are important insights for future implementation of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, which must consider and address the challenges facing the cardiac workforce.
We have developed 4 key recommendations from the outcome of our census:
- Government should work with NHS England to collect data regularly on the cardiac workforce.
- NHS Long Term Workforce Plan should be accompanied by long-term funding.
- The next phases of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan must address retention issues and inequalities in the cardiology workforce.
- NHS England should develop ways to support local health systems to carry out health research and use the resulting evidence. This is outlined in the Health and Care Act.
Footnotes
- Burgess, S., Shaw, E., & Zaman, S. 2019. Women in cardiology: underwhelming rate of change. Circulation, 139(8), 1001-1002.
- British Heart Foundation, 2023. Our research funding diversity data 2020 – 2023.
What's on this page
We’ve produced the first ever census of the cardiac workforce in England. It provides a snapshot of part of England’s cardiac workforce in summer 2023. This is to inform plans that healthcare policymakers and NHS England might have for the cardiac workforce.
Vacancies
Of consultant cardiology posts, 6.3% were either vacant or filled by a locum (temporary staff member) on the day of the census. 30% of these had been vacant for over a year.
These figures are lower than those seen in other similar surveys run by professional bodies, like the Royal College of Physicians. However, we note that vacancy figures are not a reliable indicator of workforce shortages. This may partly be because they do not take into account the fact more staff might be needed than are currently being advertised for.
Limitations
Following a pilot of this work, our final census focuses on cardiologists and cardiac clinical nurse specialists in England. This was to reduce the amount of data requested and questions asked of trusts and to maximise the chances of response.
We know there are multiple roles in the workforce that provide daily support to people living with CVD (cardiovascular diseases) that are not captured in this census. However, we feel this is an important first step to understanding what information is needed and how to go about getting it.
Methodology: How we collected our data
In June 2023, we asked 126 NHS trusts with a cardiology department in England about their cardiology teams. We received a 57% response rate.
No individual person or trust has been named in our report, with results presented at regional or national level.
Overview
In 2023, we partnered with the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) to carry out the first census of the cardiac workforce in England. Workforce shortages are a major challenge for cardiac care teams. Despite this, there is little publicly available data on the cardiac workforce in England.
Our 2022 evidence review explored what information and data was available about the workforce, along with what else is needed. This helped to inform the development of our census.
This census was a first step towards building a comprehensive overview of the cardiac workforce in England. We’ve collected data to subspecialty level to build a picture of the cardiac workforce. This is because data can help us with planning, training and retention.
Workforce Census Prize Draw Terms and Conditions
- The Promoter is British Heart Foundation, Greater London House, 180 Hampstead Road London, NW1 7AW (“Promoter”).
- The competition opens on Monday 19 June 2023 and closes at Sunday 27 August 2023. All completed entries must be submitted within these dates to be eligible to win.
- There are five prizes to be won: three De’Longhi coffee machines and two Whittard of Chelsea refreshment hampers, and they are non-transferable and non-refundable.
- The Promoter reserves the right to change the prize or cancel the draw at any time.
- The prize draw is only open to NHS Trusts in England and the person completing the entry on behalf of the Trust must be over 18.
- Only ONE entry per NHS Trust is permitted.
- The winners will be drawn at random by 31 August 2023 and notified by 2 September 2023. Only the winners will be notified and no correspondence will be entered into. The Promoter's decision is final and binding in all matters.
- If a winner cannot be contacted by 9 September 2023 or they decide to decline the prize, the Promoter reserves the right to select a substitute winner.
- The prize will be delivered to the winners via recorded delivery within 14 working days of a winner, who may be a substitute winner, agreeing to accept their prize.
- The draw is not open to employees or volunteers of British Heart Foundation, their families, agents, or affiliates of the Promoter, or anyone involved in this prize draw.
- The Promoter will not be responsible for any delay or failure of any entries to be delivered by the entry deadline or any incomplete entries received.
- Submission of a completed workforce tool to the Promoter or IQVIA will qualify as entry to the draw unless a participating Trust specifies they do not wish to be entered. Entry into the draw will be deemed to constitute acceptance of these terms and conditions.
- We may use your personal data to contact you during the data verification process, other than that we will only use your data for prize draw purposes.
- No purchase is necessary to enter the prize draw.
- The winner will be chosen at random out of all eligible and complete entries.
- The Promoter takes no responsibility or liability for any lost entries or registrations howsoever caused. All lost registrations will be deemed invalid.
- Entrants shall be responsible for ensuring that the contact details they provide are up to date and accurate.