Safe Staffing Policy (Nursing and Midwifery)

Introduction

Registered and unregistered Nursing and Midwifery Staff, working as part of a multi-disciplinary team play a critical role in delivering safe, high-quality care to patients and service users. The Trust Strategy and Nursing & Midwifery Strategy, Together We Care, puts patients at the heart of all that we do. A range of reports (Hard Truths Department of Health 2013, Francis Report 2013, Keogh 2013, Berwick 2013) proport that having the right number of staff delivering care to patients in the right place impacts positively on both clinical outcomes and patient experience.

In November 2013, the National Quality Board (NQB) clearly articulated 10 expectations which require all NHS Trusts to ensure that nursing and midwifery staffing levels are safe and optimal at all times and across all areas. Central to these expectations was the requirement to publish staffing in terms of planned and actual staffing information at a local level in the public domain and to ensure that the roles and responsibilities of those with responsibility for responding to gaps in staffing establishment are clearly determined.

In July 2014 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published Safe Staffing for Nursing in Adult Inpatient Wards in acute hospitals. It makes recommendations on safe staffing for nursing in adult inpatient wards in acute hospitals. It also identifies organisational and managerial factors that are required to support safe staffing for nursing, and indicators that should be used to provide information on whether safe nursing care is being provided in adult inpatient wards in acute hospitals.

Policy Details

See also:

• Quality Safety & Risk Management Strategy
• Incident Reporting Policy
• Observation and Therapeutic Intervention Policy
• Rostering Policy
• Sickness Absence Policy
• Temporary Staffing Policy