The minimum data set (MDS) collection for health visiting (HV) provides the number of full time equivalent (FTE) health visitors employed by all NHS organisations, Local Authorities and Social Enterprises. It collects information from Area Teams (ATs) that employ health visitors but do not use the Electronic Staff Record (ESR), such as local authorities and some social enterprises. Those NHS organisations using ESR have their HV numbers fed directly into the collection.
The MDS collection for HV differs from the monthly workforce statistics published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre as it is solely focused on health visitors and includes those who are employed by non-NHS organisations and those organisations that do not use ESR over and above those NHS organisations included in the standard monthly workforce statistics.
