FOI Ref: FOI/2023/4759
You asked
I would like to know the number of deaths by suicide by percentage for dentists, doctors and nurses in the UK in 2021 and 2022.
Please could I also request the total number of dentists, doctors and nurses in the UK.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
Suicides
We are responsible for the production of mortality data for England and Wales, using information collected from the death certificate at death registration. National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. They can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.
We hold the following analysis of Suicide by occupation, England and Wales, 2011 to 2021 registrations.
Data on occupation is coded using the Standard Occupation Classification (SOC 2010). In all, there are 9 major groups of occupations (for example, skilled trades occupations); 25 sub-major groups (for example, skilled construction and building trades); 90 minor groups (for example, building finishing trades); and more than 350 individual occupations (for example, painters and decorators).
Full lists of occupations used in the analysis are reported in the accompanying data tables, and descriptions of these can be found in ONS Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Hierarchy. The report is structured so that it describes larger categories of occupations before moving on to describe risk in specific occupations.
The occupational codes used are:
- 2211 Medical Practitioner
- 2212 Psychologists
- 2215 Dental Practitioners
- 2231 Nurses
- 2232 Midwives
However, there are more healthcare related codes available in table 4 of the dataset.
Individual occupation data can be found in table 4 of the dataset.
The majority of suicides require an inquest, where a coroner investigates the death. The amount of time it takes to hold an inquest causes a lag between the date of death and the date of death registration, referred to as a registration delay. Registration delays for deaths caused by suicide tend to be 5 to 6 months on average.
We do produce provisional suicide data for England on a quarterly basis, with the latest update including deaths that have been registered from July to September of 2022. This is for deaths registered in 2022, and due to the registration delay described above, most of these deaths would have occurred in 2021.
Suicide by occupation 2022 will be published in September 2023 to allow the inclusion of late registrations. More information on late registrations is available in our Suicide rates in the UK QMI.
If you would like to discuss your request further, please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.
Number of dentists, doctors and nurses in the UK
Data from the Annual Population Survey providing Occupation by SOC2010 code and sex is also available from our interactive webservice NOMIS.
- Select the geography (United Kingdom or constituent countries).
- Select Date
- Select Employment status - Employee/Self Employed
- Select working pattern - Full time/Part time
- Select occupation – SOC Codes above or choose from list.
- Select Sex
- Download the data