The demographics of our workforce and the people that use our services. March 2025
Devon has a population of just over 1.2 million. Like most rural communities, Devon’s population are predominantly White British, Heterosexual and cis gender. 20% of people in Devon declare they have a disability.
NHS Devon workforce
NHS Devon employs 483 staff (as at April 2025), which has reduced in the past year following a significant change programme.
The majority of staff (74%) are employed in admin and clerical professions.
Nearly 25% of the workforce are 55 or older.
The average hourly gender pay gap across all roles is 10%, compared to 17.8% nationally.
The tables below give a breakdown of the NHS Devon workforce and how this compares to the wider Devon and national population taken from the latest census data.
Disability
| Disability status | NHS Devon workforce | Devon population | England and Wales |
| People who say they have a disability | 7.68% | 20.5% | 17.8% |
| People who say they do not have a disability | 67.37% | 79.5% | 82.2% |
| Not declared | 22.07% | N/A | N/A |
| Prefer not to say | 1.54% | N/A | N/A |
| Unspecified | 1.34% | N/A | N/A |
Ethnicity
| Ethnic Group | NHS Devon workforce | Devon Population | England and Wales |
| White British | See table below | 92% | 74% white British (80.5 of 2011) |
| All other ethnic groups (including white minorities) | See table below | 8% (of which 3% are white minority) | 26% of which (6% are white minority) |
NHS Devon workforce ethnicity
| Ethnic Origin | Percentage |
| White – British | 78.31% |
| White Unspecified | 5.76% |
| White English | 2.88% |
| White – Any other White background | 1.54% |
| Black or Black British – African | 0.58% |
| White Other European | 0.38% |
| Asian or Asian British – Indian | 0.38% |
| Asian Unspecified | 0.38% |
| Chinese | 0.38% |
| White – Irish | 0.19% |
| White Welsh | 0.19% |
| Mixed – White & Black African | 0.19% |
| Mixed – Other/Unspecified | 0.19% |
| Asian or Asian British – Pakistani | 0.19% |
| Asian or Asian British – Bangladeshi | 0.19% |
| Asian or Asian British – Any other Asian background | 0.19% |
| Black Nigerian | 0.19% |
| Any Other Ethnic Group | 0.19% |
| Not Stated | 6.33% |
| Unspecified | 1.15% |
| Other Specified | 0.19% |
Sexual orientation
| Sexual orientation | NHS Devon workforce | Devon | England and Wales |
| Heterosexual | 55.85% | 89.5% | 89% |
| LGBTQ+ | 2.88% | 3.2% | 3.2% |
| Did not declare | 41.07% | 7.3% | 7.5% |
| Unspecified | 0.19% | NA | NA |
Gender
| Gender Identity | NHS Devon workforce | Devon | England and Wales |
| Female | 77.74% | 51% | 51% |
| Male | 22.26% | 49% | 49% |
| Non-binary | N/A | 0.07% | 0.06% |
| Transgender | N/A | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| Other gender identity | N/A | 0.04% | 0.04% |
| Did not declare | N/A | 5.6% | 6% |
NHS Devon uses the NHS Electronic Staff Record (ESR) to capture workforce demographic information so there are limitations in the level of information that can be captured. The capability of this system is going to be explored over the next 12 months to understand if additional information can be captured.
Protected characteristics
- Gender – Predominantly female workforce (76%) which has remained stable for last five years. A greater proportion of staff are female across Bands 3 to 8c. Above Band 8c, the proportions are more even
- Ethnicity – Predominantly white workforce (83%). Minority groups have grown from less than 10% to almost 20% in the last five years
- Disability – Staff declaring a disability has doubled in last five years. In general, more staff on lower bands have declared a disability
- Sexual orientation – 76% of staff declare themselves heterosexual or straight, which has remained relatively static for the last five years
- Religious belief – 40% of staff declare themselves as Christians and 26% have no disclosed their beliefs. There have been no significant changes in the past five years
Workforce Race Equality Standard
- Staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from patients, relatives or the public in the last 12 months – The overall trend is down since 2021 (from 8.5% to 7.6%)
- Staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from patients, relatives or the public in the last 12 months – The overall trend is slight up since 2021 (from 10.1% to 15.1%)
- Staff believing that the organisation providers equal opportunities for career progression or promotion in the last 12 months – The general trend is down since 2021 (from 63.2% to 48.9%)
- Staff experiencing discrimination from managers or colleagues in the last 12 months – No significant change since 2020
Workforce Disability Equality Standard
- Staff experience harassment, bullying or abuse from patients/service users, their relatives or the public in the last 12 months – Significant decrease for those with a long-term condition since 2020 (from 20% to 7.6%)
- Staff experience harassment, bullying or abuse from managers in the last 12 months – Significant increase for those with a long-term condition since 2021 (from 6% to 19%)
- Staff experience harassment, bullying or abuse from other colleagues in the last 12 months – Small increase for those with a long-term condition since 2021 (from 9.2% to 11.5%)
- Staff who said they reported harassment, bullying or abuse the last time they experience it –Those with a long-term condition show a significant decrease since 2021 (from 60% to 34.8%)
- Staff believing that the organisation providers equal opportunities for career progression or promotion in the last 12 months – 10% decrease for all staff since 2021
- Staff who felt pressure from their manager to come to work, despite not feeling well enough to perform their duties – The trends show a positive movement from 2020 until 2023, with a negative movement between 2023 and 2024
- Staff satisfaction with the extent to which the organisation values their work – Significant decrease across all groups
- Staff with long-term conditions who say the organisation has made reasonable adjustments to enable them to carry out their work – Broadly the same since 2022 (from 89.8% to 88.1%)
- Staff engagement – Scores have slightly reduced across all groups (from around 7 to 6.4)
Staff survey results
NHS Devon undertakes an annual staff survey in October/November each year.
71% of colleagues completed the 2024 survey (76% national average) of which 37% said they would recommend the organisation as a place to work.
The organisation’s results are broadly the same as last year.
Responses related to race and disability are shown in the table below.
| Question number | Question | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Average | Organisation | |
| q16b | Not experienced discrimination from manager/team leader or other colleagues | 95% | 96% | 96% | 96% | 96% | 93% | 96% | |
| q21 | Feel organisation respects individual differences | * | 82% | 79% | 67% | 66% | 72% | 66% | |
| q14d | Last experience of harassment/bullying/abuse reported | 47% | 53% | 47% | 46% | 39% | 47% | 39% | |
| q14b | Not experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from managers | 89% | 95% | 95% | 91% | 89% | 91% | 89% | |
| q14c | Not experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from other colleagues | 90% | 94% | 90% | 91% | 92% | 88% | 92% |
Next steps
As NHS Devon begins one of its most significant change programmes in recent years, it will have to take a pragmatic approach to equality and diversity interventions.
At times of change, resources must be aligned to the successful delivery of the change programme. This naturally leads to less resource being available for other activities.
To ensure that resources are distributed appropriately, for the next 6-12months, equality and diversity interventions will focus on monitoring and reviewing the impact of change across the organisation.
Additionally, as the change programme will ultimately result in NHS Devon and NHS Cornwall and the Scilly Isles working together as a cluster, monitoring and review processes will be aligned, and where possible, use combined data.
For a more detailed overview of NHS Devon’s workforce demographics, please download the below presentation.
Our patients and population
Below is a summary of demographic information for patients across key areas including elective care, urgent care and mental health.
Elective care
The number of long waits for elective treatment continued to reduce in Devon during 2024/25, with positive progress being made at all providers. The number of people waiting more than 18, 52 and 65 weeks for treatment, with particular progress being made in reducing the longest waits (above 65 weeks).
The number of long waits in Devon during 2024/25 continue to fall compared to 2023/24 with waiters over 65 weeks showing a steady decrease.
When looking at the number of over 18 week waits by age band, we can see the waiting list is representative of Devon’s comparably older population, with almost half the patients aged over 60.
This picture is almost exactly the same for over 52 week waits, with very similar proportions of patients split between the different age groups. This consistency suggests patients waiting a long time are not skewed towards any single age group.
For over 65 week waits, the position is similar, although over 60s are slightly more likely to wait over 65 weeks and children are slightly less likely when compared to over 18 week waits.
Looking at the elective waiting list by gender, the majority of patients waiting over 18 weeks are female, but this is fairly representative of the population, particularly as the proportion of females in the population rises as age increases.
The position in 2024/25 for age groups by wait times is similar to that seen in 2023/24.
This proportion remains very consistent when looking at long waits, with the position essentially unchanged for both over 52 week and over 65 week waits, suggesting there is no inequality between sexes for elective waits.
When looking at elective waits by ethnicity, it is difficult to draw conclusions around any inequalities due to the very low number of patients recorded in any category other than white. 98% of over 52-week waits are recorded as either white, unknown or as not stated, with the remaining 2% spread across the other categories. There is a similar position for over 65 week waits.
Reviewing the waiting list by the indices of deprivation (the level of deprivation associated with where patients live), the pattern is consistent through the waiting time bands. The highest proportion of waiters are of average deprivation and a balance between the most and least deprived. This remains broadly the same for over 18, 52 and 65 week waits, suggesting deprivation does not strongly correlate with longer waiting times.
The position in 2024/25 for gender, ethnicity and deprivation quintiles by wait times is similar to that seen in 2023/24.
Activity rates compared to pre-pandemic
When comparing 2024/25 elective activity against pre-pandemic (2019/20) levels for under 18s and over 18s, the following patterns are seen:
- Overall elective activity in 2024/25 was 27% higher than pre-COVID
- Overall elective activity was 33% higher for men and 20% higher for women than pre-COVID
- Overall elective activity increased more for older people, with activity for over 80s rising by almost 62%, and 60-79 year olds growing by over 32%. However, younger age ranges have continued to see almost static levels of activity compared with pre-COVID, with 18–39-year-olds 0.5% lower and under 18s 0.5% higher.
Comparing pre-pandemic elective activity by deprivation, activity levels for people from all deprivation quintiles have recovered with the greatest increase being in the most deprived category.
When viewed by ethnicity, changes in the number of “not stated” ethnicity affects the ability to assess comparable difference between ethnic groups, but overall those in the white ethnicity category have seen less of a rise in activity compared to pre-COVID (20%) against the combined group of other ethnic categories who have seen a rise of 70%. However, caution should be taken with these figures due to the recording gaps.
This is a different picture to 2023/24 when the two most deprived categories were showing a fall in activity compared to pre-COVID.
Activity rates per population
This section explores potential variation in age standardised activity rates for elective and emergency admissions and outpatient, virtual outpatient and emergency attendances.
Overall standardised activity rates for total elective activity are 64.7 procedures per 1,000 population for women and 58.1 for men. This is generally representative of the age split of the population, considering that the female to male ratio for older people (who are more likely to receive treatment) is higher than the population as a whole.
When looking at activity rates by deprivation quintiles, those at either end of the deprivation curve see generally lower rates of activity. This is a similar position to that seen in 2023/24.
When viewed by ethnicity, numbers are not sufficient to draw conclusions around rates of activity per population. Many ethnic groups are lower than 1,000 which is generally the population used to calculate rates.
Urgent and emergency care emergency admissions for under 18s
Emergency admissions for children and young people (CYP) have followed a fairly typical pattern in 2024/25, with relatively stable levels for much of the year but with an increase in winter months linked to increasing respiratory admissions for generally very young children and babies. Cases of respiratory syncytial virus [RSV] generally peak in November/December.
Looking at these emergency admissions by ethnic category we broadly see a reflection of the ethnic position of the general population in Devon.
Looking at the deprivation quintile of these patients, the majority were from areas of average deprivation, although the proportion from areas of highest deprivation were above those in lowest deprivation areas (16% vs 12%).
The position for emergency admissions for under 18s in 2024/25 for ethnicity and deprivation quintiles is similar to that seen in 2023/24.
Respiratory
This section looks at the uptake of COVID and flu vaccinations by sociodemographic group.
For COVID, this is the number and percentage of eligible patients (patients aged 65+ or patients aged below 65 who are in an at-risk group) who received a COVID vaccination during the autumn/winter 2024/25 booster campaign.
For flu, this is the number and percentage of eligible patients (patients aged 65+ by 31 March 2025, or patients aged 18-64 and in an at-risk group) who received an adult flu vaccination during the 2024/25 flu season.
The charts below show the number of people receiving a COVID vaccination by their ethnicity.
The uptake of COVID vaccinations varies between ethnic groups, with white groups seeing around double the uptake in this period. A similar position is true of flu vaccinations, with slightly lower variation.
There is a 21% difference in uptake between the least deprived and most deprived areas.
This pattern holds true for flu vaccinations too.
When looking at uptake of COVID vaccinations by age group, there is a huge disparity in uptake, with older people significantly more likely to choose to be vaccinated than younger age groups, albeit in the context of significantly higher numbers of vaccinations offered to older people.
Again, the same pattern is seen for flu vaccinations, although less marked.
The variation by gender is much less obvious, although females are slightly more likely to choose to be vaccinated than men for flu.
The COVID and flu vaccination position in 2024/25 for gender, age, ethnicity and deprivation quintiles is similar when compared to that seen in 2023/24.
Mental health
Severe mental illness (SMI) physical health checks
This section looks at the number of severe mental illness (SMI) physical health checks and the percentage performance comparing those people who have had checks against the total number of patients who should be offered a check.
Looking by deprivation quintiles, the volume of people receiving health checks is higher in more deprived and averagely deprived areas when compared to least deprived areas. However, the proportion of those receiving checks is lower for the most deprived areas.
Looking at ethnicity, people from the ‘white British’ ethnic group are more likely to receive health checks than other ethnic groups, with mixed ethnicity seeing the lowest level of checks.
By gender, females (49.6%) are more likely to receive a health check than men (46.9%), despite there being very similar numbers of eligible people.
By age, there is a correlation with younger age groups receiving comparatively less health checks then older people (up to 80 years old).
Rates of total Mental Health Act detentions
Overall, standardised detention rates are 65 detentions per 100,000 population for men and 60 for women.
When looking at detention rates by Index of deprivation, the rate increases as deprivation rises.
NHS Talking Therapies (formerly IAPT) recovery
69% of Talking Therapies are received by women and 72% by patients aged between 26 and 65, with 19% between ages 18 and 25 and 8% for over 65s.
Looking at ethnicity, the majority of uptake is from White British, although 8.5% of patients have an unknown/unstated ethnicity.
By deprivation, the majority of uptake is from patients living in medium deprived areas, reflecting the general population split.
The position for Talking Therapies in 2024/25 for ethnicity and deprivation quintiles is similar to that seen in 2023/24.
Children and young people’s mental health access
61% of children accessing children and young people’s mental health services are female, with 37% male and 1% non-binary.
56% of children are aged 11 to 15, a quarter are over 16 and 18% are ten or under.
By deprivation decile, the largest proportion of children accessing services are from the most deprived areas and, while this is not significantly higher than other areas, it is disproportionate to the population split.
By ethnicity over 38% of ethnicity is not stated or unknown, with 59% of children receiving CYP mental health services being White British.
The position for children receiving mental health services in 2024/25 for deprivation decile is similar to that seen in 2023/24. The proportion where ethnicity is not stated or unknown has increased considerably since 2023/24.
Cardiovascular disease
Stroke
This section looks at the rate of non-elective admissions for stroke (per 100,000, age-sex standardised).
The number of patients admitted and then discharged from hospitals in Devon shows a generally consistent picture, although coding backlogs affect later months.
The rate of stroke discharges remains relatively steady.
Stroke discharges by ethnic category shows a very similar position to the Devon demographics, with the vast majority recorded as white and only small numbers being recorded in other ethnic categories.
Looking at stroke discharges by deprivation quintile, the balance matches the deprivation make-up of Devon.
The position for primary stroke discharges in 2024/25 for ethnicity and deprivation quintiles is similar to that seen in 2023/24.
Myocardial Infarction (Heart Attack)
The number and rate of non-elective admissions for heart attacks in Devon (per 100,000 age-sex standardised) rose towards the end of 2024 before returning to levels similar to those earlier in the year (please note, later months are affected by delays in coding).
The ethnic category of heart attacks shows a consistent position with the population demographics.
Looking at heart attacks by deprivation quintile, a slightly lower number of below-average deprivation patients are seen than might be expected, with a slightly higher number of above-average deprivation patients, which may be linked to the spread of risk factors between the deprivation groups.
The position for primary myocardial infarction discharges in 2024/25 for ethnicity and deprivation quintiles is similar to that seen in 2023/24.
Hypertension
This section looks at three measures associated with hypertension, with the first being the percentage of patients aged 18 and over, with GP recorded hypertension, in whom the last blood pressure reading (measured in the preceding 12 months) is to the appropriate treatment threshold.
By ethnicity, there is variation for this measure, although based on small numbers, but the lower readings for non-white ethnic groups warrants further review. The national ambition for this measure is 80%.
By deprivation quintile, patients from the most deprived areas receive poorer outcomes for this measure, with a noticeable difference compared to patients from lesser deprived areas.
Outcomes for males are lower than for females.
Looking by age, there is a clear increase in readings within the threshold for older people, with a progressive increase as age rises.
The percentage of patients aged 18 and over with no GP recorded cardiovascular disease (CVD) and a GP recorded QRISK score of 20% or more, on lipid lowering therapy shows general low variability when viewed by ethnicity, with the exception of higher rates for those recorded as Asian, Mixed or Other (note: higher prescribing rates are linked to better outcomes).
Looking at deprivation for the same measure, patients from the most deprived areas show a higher prescribing rate for appropriate LLT medication.
By gender, males are more likely to be prescribed appropriately for LLT medication.
By age group, people aged 18-39 years and those over 80 years old are least likely to be prescribed appropriately for LLT medication.
The proportion of 18-39 years being prescribed appropriately for LLT medication has reduced considerably compared with 2023/24 (60%).
The percentage of patients aged 18 and over with GP recorded atrial fibrillation and a record of a CHADS2 or CHA2DS2-VASc score of 2 or more, who are currently treated with any oral anticoagulant is significantly lower for people with a black ethnicity compared to other ethnicities.
Overall, the proportions by ethnicity are similar compared to 2023/24. However, the proportion of patients with a black ethnicity has increased from 62%.
When looking by deprivation the least deprived areas have similar likelihood of being treated with drug therapy than those in more deprived areas.
By gender. there is very little difference in prescribing between males and females, whilst by age group the 40-59 age range has a lower level of prescribing, but this is based on small numbers of patients and so a level of variation is to be expected. There is no data for 18–39-year-olds.
The proportions of GP recorded atrial fibrillation in 2024/25 for age, gender, ethnicity and deprivation quintiles is similar to that reported in 2023/24.
Diabetes
This section looks at the variation between the percentage of people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes receiving all eight care processes set out in national guidance.
By age group, the receipt of these care processes increases by age, peaking between 60 and 90 years old.
Looking at this measure by ethnicity, there is a level of variation, with those with a white or Asian ethnicity seeing higher levels of care processes received compared to mixed, black or other ethnicities.
By deprivation quintile those in the most deprived areas receive the least processes.
The chart below shows the variation between the percentage of referrals from the most deprived quintile and the overall share of Type 2 diabetes population from the most deprived quintile.
There is a 3% variation between the percentage of referrals from the most deprived quintile and the overall share of Type 2 diabetes population from the most deprived quintile (less care processes received than would be expected) given the population).
Oral health
This section looks at tooth extractions due to decay for children admitted as inpatients to hospital, aged 10 years and under (number of admissions not number of teeth extracted) for the 2024 calendar year.
Please note, the majority of activity in Plymouth is not recorded.
By ethnicity, the proportions of tooth extractions generally represent the population ethnic mix.
By deprivation quintile, there is a clear pattern of the most deprived areas showing much higher rates of tooth extractions in hospital for children than the least deprived areas.
The split by gender shows boys are more likely to have tooth extractions in an acute inpatient setting than girls.
The proportions of tooth extractions in an admitted hospital setting for 10 and under in 2024/25 for gender, ethnicity and deprivation quintiles is similar to that reported in 2023/24.
Learning disability and autistic people
Annual Health Checks
In Devon, up to February 2025, 66.7% of annual health checks were completed for people with a Learning Disability or Autism.
This compares to the national position of 70.9%.
Nationally, there has been a considerable increase in the percentage of annual health checks, Devon has increased in line with this development.
Devon PCN-level coverage ranged from 81.8% to 33.3%, suggesting there is scope to review variation in the timing and volume of checks offered.
Maternity and neonatal
This section looks at pre-term births under 37 weeks. Overall, numbers have remained fairly static over the past four years, with around 6% of births being under 37 weeks.
By ethnicity, black or white groups are more likely to have pre-term births, although this is based on relatively small numbers with a high level of unknown or blank ethnicities recorded which makes it difficult to produce an accurate comparison.
The percentage of pre-term births for black groups has decreased from 13.9% in 2023/24.
| Percent | Gestation Length | ||
| Ethnic Group | <37 weeks | >=37 weeks | Missing Value/Value outside reporting parameters |
| Asian or Asian British | 3.8% | 95.9% | 0.3% |
| Black or Black British | 6.4% | 93.1% | 0.5% |
| Mixed | 5.0% | 95.0% | 0.0% |
| Other ethnic groups | 3.3% | 96.1% | 0.7% |
| White | 6.3% | 93.4% | 0.3% |
| (blank) | 11.7% | 88.3% | 0.0% |
| Not known | 33.3% | 66.7% | 0.0% |
| Grand Total | 6.2% | 93.5% | 0.3% |
By deprivation quintile pre-term births rise with increased deprivation, being over 1% higher for patients from the most deprived areas than the least deprived.
| Percent | Gestation Length | ||
| IMD_Quintile | <37 weeks | >=37 weeks | Missing Value/Value outside reporting parameters |
| Q1 – Most Deprived | 6.3% | 93.7% | 0.00% |
| Q2 – Below Average | 7.1% | 92.5% | 0.34% |
| Q3 – Average | 6.3% | 93.4% | 0.24% |
| Q4 – Above Average | 5.6% | 94.0% | 0.36% |
| Q5 – Least Deprived | 4.7% | 95.1% | 0.24% |
| Grand Total | 6.2% | 93.5% | 0.25% |
The proportions of pre-term births in 2024/25 for deprivation quintiles is similar to that reported in 2023/24.
EDI priorities 2025/2026
The way NHS Devon delivers EDI is going through a period of change. A new EDI working group has been established and brings together all relevant professional responsible for the delivery of EDI.
The working group has four key areas of focus:
- Map current EDI activity taking place across Devon
- Check how this aligns to meeting legal and statutory responsibilities and contributes towards the four ICB aims
- Identify any gaps and key areas of focus
- Move towards a model where EDI is embedded in everything that we do
The mapping exercise is underway, and the alignment process will be taking place in April 2025.
The key areas we will be aligning the work programmes to are:
- The four key aims of an ICB
- The Equality Act 2010
- The Public Sector Equality Duty
- National reporting requirements
Information on progress will be published as the work of the EDI working group develops.
