NICE issues first recommendations on safe staffing levels

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued draft recommendations that will help acute hospitals to maintain safe staffing levels.

Focusing on wards that provide overnight care for adult patients, the guidelines note that if each registered nurse is caring for more than eight patients during the daytime on a regular basis, there is an increased risk of harm.

It also highlights the importance of the nursing team's awareness of patient needs and so-called red flag events, which are signals that require an immediate response. These include patients not being provided with help for visits to the bathroom, being asked about their pain levels or delays in providing medicines.

Additionally, hospital boards and senior management have been called upon to take greater responsibility and given step-by-step guidance on how to determine the number of nursing staff that should be funded.

Professor Gillian Leng, deputy chief executive and director of health and social care at NICE, said: "There is no floor or ceiling number on the required number of nursing staff that can be applied across the whole of the NHS."

The government pledged to introduce new laws on safe hospital staffing levels following the recent Francis report into high-profile care failings at the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.