The NHS Employers organisation responds to the final advice on safe staffing in nursing issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) today (15 July):
Sue Covill, director of employment services at the NHS Employers organisation, said:
“All the national organisations we speak to including NICE say they don't believe a crude nationally mandated nurse ratio is desirable. They always agree safer staffing is about more than simple numbers. Yet these continued nuanced reports that don't make that explicit mean we seem to be getting a nurse ratio by default. We should be alert to the unintended consequences of this when a figure based on limited evidence becomes a proxy for a minimum.
“We know there is a link between safe staffing and good care but the focus on one professional group - nurse ratios - disregards the contribution and effectiveness of the whole health care team including dieticians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and support staff. Strong evidence tells us that the values of staff, the culture they work in, the supervision they receive, the leadership they have are key components of safe care.”
