Fact check: NHS staffing and altered image of Keir Starmer

This summary of claims from the campaign trail has been compiled by Full Fact, the UK’s largest fact checking charity working to find, expose and counter the harms of bad information, as part of the PA news agency’s Election Check 24.

Does the NHS have a record number of doctors and nurses?

We’ve heard a number of claims about NHS staffing during the election campaign.

For instance, last week the Prime Minister told a BBC Question Time audience that the NHS has “more doctors and nurses working” in it “than ever before”. At the same time, the Liberal Democrats’ manifesto points to “more than a hundred thousand staff vacancies in England alone”.

Both of these claims are true, but they don’t quite tell the full story.

NHS England employs around 1.3 million full-time equivalent (FTE) staff, the latest data from February 2024 shows, including 140,653 doctors and 353,969 nurses and health visitors.

That’s the highest number of FTE doctors, nurses and health visitors since comparable figures began in 2009. (And provisional figures suggest March 2024 set a new record too.)

But these figures don’t account for the changing demand for NHS services or changes in NHS activity, so employing a record number of doctors or nurses doesn’t necessarily indicate the public’s health needs are being better met.

We also have to consider the impact on NHS delivery caused by the number of staff who aren’t there. As of the end of March 2024, there were 100,658 FTE vacancies across the NHS in England. That’s a vacancy rate of 6.9%.

It’s important to remember that just because a position is unfilled, it doesn’t mean the job is going undone. Many vacancies are covered by temporary staff.

The King’s Fund health think tank notes: “The NHS workforce is growing, but not rapidly enough to keep pace with demand. This means that urgent action is needed to ensure that the NHS has enough staff in place to deliver high-quality care and to develop the service for the future.”

Altered image of Sir Keir Starmer

An altered image that appears to show Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer sitting next to serial sex abuser Jimmy Savile is circulating again on Facebook in the run up to the general election.

The image, which we saw being shared on social media earlier this year, has been edited to include Savile’s face.

The original photo which the altered image is based on was posted by shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves in December 2022. It shows a group of people including Mr Starmer, Ms Reeves and other Labour politicians watching an England football World Cup match.

Seated alongside Mr Starmer in the original photo was former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, but in the altered image shared on Facebook, Savile’s face has been edited onto Mr Brown’s body.