Staffing crisis risking safety

Eight in 10 shifts are unsafe, according to the RCN nurses’ union. Its new report, Nursing under unsustainable pressures: staffing for safe and effective care in the UK, is based on 20,325 responses from nursing and midwifery staff who told the union about their experiences on their last shift.

Eight in 10 (83%) said there weren’t enough nursing staff to meet all patient needs safely and effectively, just a quarter of shifts had the planned number of registered nurses, and fewer than one in five (18%) staff said they had enough time to provide the level of care they’d like.

RCN general secretary Pat Cullen said the risk to patients, services and health care staff revealed by the survey is “simply unacceptable”. The union is calling on governments across the UK to “take accountability for nursing workforce planning and supply in law, and immediately publish independently verifiable assessments of population health needs” to directly inform investment into the nursing workforce.