“The most effective mechanism to ensure patient safety is the introduction of national, mandatory, minimum staffing levels on wards” said Gail Adams, UNISON Head of Nursing. The union’s latest call for safer nurse to patient ratios, comes in the wake of new draft guidance from the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE), which the union believes does not go far enough and will be a real disappointment to hundreds of thousands of nurses.
Gail Adams, went on to say:
“There is safety in numbers when it comes to caring for patients and that means legal staff patient ratios. In a recent survey* of nurses by UNISON, 65% of staff said they did not have enough time with patients with 55% saying that care was left undone as a result – this is clearly unacceptable.
“We do welcome NICE’s recognition of the link between caring for 8 patients or more and the increase in risk to patients, but it is a shame that it falls short of calling for a national mandatory minimum. Our survey showed that 45% of nurses were caring for 8 or more patients so action is needed now.”
UNISON is to examine the report in detail but expressed disappointment that the consultation is limited to those registered with NICE – missing an opportunity to engage with nurses, patients and students.
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* Running on Empty – NHS staff stretched to the limit are available from the press office – numbers above.