Hospitals forced to set safe staff levels after Stafford crisis
Hospital bosses will be forced to make staffing levels on wards public to try and avoid another Stafford-style care crisis.
Each hospital trust will have to publish staffing levels on a ward-by-ward basis from next April. This will also include the percentage of shifts that meet safe staff levels, the Department of Health has said.
The move is part of the Government's formal response to the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry.
The inquiry, chaired by Robert Francis QC, highlighted the 'appalling and unnecessary suffering' of hundreds of people at Stafford Hospital between 2005 and 2009.
Up to 1,200 patients may have died needlessly after they were 'routinely neglected' at the hospital.
Mr Francis made a total of 290 sweeping recommendations for healthcare regulators, providers and the Government.
One of the key suggestions was that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) should set out how many staff are needed on any type of ward at any time.
While the Government's response to the inquiry does not call for safe staffing levels to be set at a national level, it does call on hospital boards to set levels locally using guidance issued by NHS England's chief nurse.
Nice will create guidance on the matter at a later date but will not suggest minimum staff to patient ratios.
Jane Cummings, NHS England's chief nursing officer, said: "We have a very clear evidence of a link between appropriate staffing and the outcomes of our patients. This evidence must be used to set staffing levels locally. Patients and the public are therefore entitled to know that we have the right number of people in place to provide safe, quality care every time.
"Hospitals will have to publish this information – at ward level – and present the evidence they have used to determine staffing levels in public."
The Care Quality Commission will inspect trusts and make sure they have the right numbers of staff.
Patients will be able to see their hospital's staffing levels on a new patient safety website. NHS England is also to appoint 5,000 'patient safety fellows' who will be champions in patient safety.
