More than 86,000 NHS posts remain vacant, data released by NHS Digital suggests.
Figures show that between January 2017 and March 2017 there were 86,035 advertised vacancy full-time equivalents in England. Of these 81% (69,849) were permanent and 19% (16,186) were fixed-term.
The statistics are created from administrative data related to published vacancy adverts obtained from NHS Jobs, the main recruitment website for the NHS.
In March 2017 the highest percentage was seen in the 'nursing and midwifery registered' staff group which accounted for 38% (11,485 out of 30,613) of vacancies full-time equivalents followed by 21% (6,575 out of 30,613) in the 'administrative and clerical' staff group.
According to a BBC report, the data includes adverts for doctors, dentists, administrative, clerical staff and technical and scientific staff. The figures do not include vacancies for GPs or practice staff.
But as other ways of advertising NHS jobs - including adverts seeking overseas applicants - exist, NHS officials say caution must be used when interpreting the results.
A Department of Health spokesperson said: "We expect all parts of the NHS to make sure they have the right staff, in the right place, at the right time to provide safe care - which is why there are almost 32,400 more professionally qualified clinical staff including almost 11,800 more doctors, and over 12,500 more nurses on our wards since May 2010."
Royal College of Nursing chief executive Janet Davies said: “This is a double whammy of bad news for nursing.
“At the very moment the NHS needs to be recruiting more nursing staff, we learn the number is falling and the NHS finds itself advertising for more jobs we know it cannot fill. The true number of unfilled jobs is far higher than the number of online adverts and stands at 40,000 in England alone.
"A lethal cocktail of factors is resulting in too few nurses and patient care is suffering. The Government desperately needs to keep the experienced staff still working in the NHS.
"More people are leaving nursing than joining – deterred by low pay, relentless pressure and new training costs. For the sake of patient safety, the Chancellor must scrap the cap on pay and help to fill the tens of thousands of vacant nurse jobs.”
