- Conference
- 2024 National Health Care Service Group Conference
- Date
- 4 December 2023
- Decision
- Carried
Safe Staffing
Conference notes the passing of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 (HCSA), which will come into force in April 2024, as the first piece of legislation in the UK to set out requirements for safe staffing across both health and care services.
Conference recognises that the legislation places a number of duties on Health and care providers and Ministers. Furthermore, that the aims of the legislation are meant to promote transparency in staffing and support an open and honest culture, where staff are engaged in relevant processes, informed about decisions relating to staffing requirements and feel safe to raise any concerns. However, there are no real sanctions for organisations who fail to meet their requirements under the Act.
Conference further recognises that our members, across the regions and Nations of our union, continue to experience the detrimental impact of understaffing in the health settings in which they work on a daily basis and the negative impact this can have upon patient care.
Conference is aware that many members feel that they don’t have time to properly report the effects of chronic under-staffing across the NHS and other healthcare settings and the impact it is having on both patients and staff, and that current reporting systems are not working effectively. Despite raising these concerns for a significant number of years, our members continue to be massively impacted by safe staffing issues and expected to work in conditions which are dangerous for both patients and staff. Furthermore, that particularly post COVID, an increasing view of members is that concerns, when reported, are ignored, or not acted upon.
UNISON members of all grades continue to report that they are feeling burned out and frustrated over issues such as short staffing and the ever-increasing demands placed on them. UNISON members feel that they are simply expected to essentially ‘suck up’ the extra pressure with little or no support or focus on the welfare of staff.
Conference recognizes the critical importance of safe staffing levels in all healthcare settings and calls upon the Health Service Group Executive to:
1. Call on all healthcare employers and institutions to prioritise and maintain safe staffing levels that allow for the delivery of safe, effective, and compassionate care to patients.
2. Increase campaigning efforts calling on all healthcare providers to consider the potential risks and consequences of inadequate staffing on patient outcomes and staff burnout, and to take necessary actions to address these issues and ensure effective reporting systems and culture.
3. Commit to actively engage with Government across UK, healthcare employers, regulatory bodies, and policymakers to advocate for effective regulations and policies that mandate and enforce safe staffing levels in all healthcare providers.
4. Provide support, resources, and training to UNISON Healthcare Branches and representatives to enable them to effectively organise around safe staffing issues and to empower our representatives in advocating for safe staffing levels at a local level and to address situations where staffing levels may compromise patient care and safety.