UNISON will be running its fourth annual survey into safe staffing levels in the health service on Tuesday 10 February 2015, and we’d like you to participate.
The union has been campaigning to improve staffing levels for years, but unfortunately, there still remain many workplaces with too few staff.
The purpose of the survey is to find out what staffing levels are like in workplaces across the country on a regular day.
Participants are asked to keep track of the nurse-to-patient ratio – the number of patients per nurse – in their workplace on 10 February and then answer questions in an online survey. All answers are kept anonymous and non-attributable, so everyone is encouraged to answer honestly and fully.
Tell your colleagues. Tell your friends who work in healthcare. Tell your branch. Get as many people involved as possible.
Please fill in your response between 10 February and 9am 16 February. We won’t be counting responses filled in outside this time period.
What you should keep track of during your shift on 10 February:
- how many hours your shift lasted;
- whether you worked any overtime (and if you did, how long that was);
- how many total patients there were during your shift;
- how many total nurses there were during your shift;
- whether you took some, all or none of your breaks;
- the percentage of your shift you spent working face-to-face with patients (excluding travel, paperwork etc);
- how many bank and/or agency staff members worked on your shift;
- find out if your workplace has a set staffing ratio for nursing staff and if so, what it is.
With your help we can provide a better picture of the situation with staffing levels across the UK.
Please email health@unison.co.uk if you would like further information.
Guidance on filling in the survey