Doctors and nurse leaders have warned that the NHS still faces critical staff shortages, despite the government achieving its target of having 20,000 more nurses in the health service two years earlier than planned.
Figures released today by the Department of Health (DoH) indicate that between September 1999 and September 2001 there was a net increase of 20,740 nurses and midwives in England.
The total number of qualified nurses working in the NHS rose by 4.3% - the biggest increase in qualified nurses on record - going up 14,400 to 350,400.
But the figure is calculated on a headcount basis, and the DOH did not specify how many of the extra 20,000 nurses were part-time. This could mean in real terms that the increase - measured as 'full-time equivalents' - could actually be nearer 12,000-15,000 nurses.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has estimated that the high numbers of nurses leaving the service means that by 2004 the NHS needs around 90,000 extra nurses over and above the government target of 20,000.
The British Medical Association (BMA) said that the 400 extra GPs working in the NHS over the past year was "woefully inadequate." The NHS plan target is to increase the number of GPs by 2,000 by 2004.
The health secretary, Alan Milburn, said the figures showed that the NHS was moving in the right direction but he also acknowledged that the NHS still needed to attract more nurses, and to retain more of its existing nurses.
He said: "Two years ago when we published the NHS Plan people said we could not meet our promises, but this is the biggest increase in NHS nurses on record."
He added: "For all the problems there are in the NHS which are very real there are real signs of progress. These figures are good news for NHS patients. The corner has been turned on nurse recruitment.
"But now is not the time for complacency. I now want to build on the progress that has been made. The NHS still needs more nurses.
"We will continue our recruitment campaign and launch a third year of it later this month but it is now time to switch the emphasis from nurse recruitment to nurse retention.
"We cannot have nurses coming into the NHS through the front door but find more leaving through the back door. Our objective must be to improve their working lives."
The BMA said the figures delivered a "very mixed picture on doctor numbers. It welcomed the 1,380 extra hospital consultants but warned that more needed to be done to expand the numbers of doctors entering general practice.
The DoH pointed out that the number of people training to be GPs rose 13.5% by 224 to 1,883. The overall NHS workforce increased by 4.3% to 1,166,000.
