Hospitals get guidelines on safe nurse numbers

Posted 14/07/2014

Hospitals get guidelines on safe nurse numbers

The BBC has reported that hospitals in England are being given strict guidelines on safe staffing levels for nurses, but they stop short of giving absolute minimums.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said having more than eight patients to one nurse on a ward in the day should act as a trigger for checking if care is  being compromised.

It also sets out a series of ’red flag’ events that should prompt concern. The guidelines cover problems with basic care such as delays getting pain relief, patients not being helped on a visit to the bathroom and not receiving their medication.

Both patients and nurses on wards can raise these concerns. They must then be investigated and explanations provided for what has gone wrong.

NICE estimate implementing the guidance could cost £200m, which is approximately 5% of the cost of employing nurses on hospital wards. It has said that in the long run it would save money through improvements in care.

The government said the move was a STET major step forward”.

Sophie Bales, a Medical Injury Solicitor at Ashtons Legal comments:

“It is good to see that the importance of safe staffing levels is now being recognised across the NHS.  It is evident that when staffing levels are not sufficient, patients are being put at risk and errors are more likely to be made”.

“It is also positive that the emphasis is not just on the available number of staff but on delivering safe patient care, as there are situations where one nurse toeight patients will not be enough, such as in high dependency wards or for those vulnerable or elderly who require higher levels of care”.

“At this stage, it is unclear the impact the new guidelines will have on patient safety, but it is a positive step forward to achieving consistently safe staffing levels.”