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NHS employees

The NHS employee figures provide the numbers of hospital and community health services (HCHS) staff working in NHS trusts and other core organisations in England (excluding primary care staff). The employee numbers are broken down by local integrated care systems (ICS), integrated care boards (ICB) and NHS trusts.

NHS services in Lancashire, Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen are overseen by the Lancashire and South Cumbria ICS. There are eight NHS trusts based partly or wholly in Lancashire, of which five are part of the Lancashire and South Cumbria ICS.

The figures are for July 2026.

Key Figures

  • There were 43,153 employees working in the Lancashire and South Cumbria ICS.

  • Professionally qualified clinical staff made up 54.2% (23,401) of the employees in Lancashire and South Cumbria ICS.

  • There were 736 employees working in Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB.

  • Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust had the largest number of employees (10,306), followed by East Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (9,862).

  • University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust had the lowest number of employees (7,024) in the Lancashire and South Cumbria ICS.

Employees in NHS trusts that cover Lancashire and wider areas in the North West

Organisation

Professionally qualified clinical employees

Total employees

Lancashire and South Cumbria ICS

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

5,463

10,306

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust

5,290

9,862

Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust

4,152

7,743

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

4,300

7,516

University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust

3,965

7,024

Other North West ICSs

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (Cheshire and Merseyside ICS) [1]

6,186

11,401

North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust (Greater Manchester ICS)

3,227

7,912

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust (Greater Manchester ICS) [2]

3,610

7,213

Source: NHS Workforce Statistics from NHS England.
[1] Cheshire and Merseyside ICS - site in Lancashire is Ormskirk and District General Hospital.
[2] Greater Manchester ICS – site in Lancashire is Wrightington Hospital.

These data are a summary of the validated data extracted from the NHS HR and Payroll system. The employee figures are headcounts. Headcount totals are unlikely to equal the sum of components due to some staff working in more than one role.

Professionally qualified clinical staff includes all hospital and community health services doctors, qualified nurses and health visitors, midwives, qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff and qualified ambulance staff, excluding primary care staff.

Page updated 16 October 2026