Over the past decade, the strongest employment growth has been in:

• personal services occupations (nursing assistants, ambulance staff excluding paramedics, dental nurses, residential wardens and care assistants)
• managers and senior officials (in hospitals, health care practices, social services and residential and day care centres)
• professional occupations (such as medical practitioners, pharmacists/pharmacologists, opticians, dental practitioners and veterinarians)

Employment has declined among administrative and secretarial, plus elementary occupations, such as hospital porters. 

There has also been slow growth in employment among associate professional and technical staff, which includes: nurses; midwives; paramedics; radiographers; chiropodists; dispensing opticians; pharmaceutical dispensers; medical and dental technicians; physiotherapists; occupational therapists; youth and community workers; and housing and welfare officers.

Source: Skills in England 2004 (Volume 3)

For more data on occupational trends and future composition of the health care sector workforce see: