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Showing results for tags 'Safe staffing'.
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Content ArticleThe nurse-to-patient ratio represents the number of patients a registered nurse cares for during a shift. Most hospitals have guidelines to ensure safe staffing ratios, but staffing shortages have led to heavier nursing workloads. This article outlines which US states have laws and regulations in place for safe staffing ratios.
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Content Article
A strategy for the care workforce (TUC, August 2023)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Social care
The Trade Unions Congress (TUC) is proposing a new care workforce strategy for England, developed with trade unions and informed by the voice and experiences of care workers. This strategy document sets out the critical building blocks to ensure care workers are valued and supported, as a key means of addressing the current staffing crisis and improving access to and quality of social and childcare services. -
News Article
NHS 'to employ half of public sector by 2026'
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
The NHS workforce plan will cost £50 billion and result in the health service employing half the public sector by the 2030s, analysis concludes today. Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, has in effect “stolen more than a decade’s worth of budgets” from his successors by setting out plans to hire almost a million extra NHS staff without a clear way to pay for them, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says. Hunt has been urged to use his autumn statement to start setting out whether tax rises, borrowing or cuts elsewhere will be used to fund the “massive spending commitment”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 30 August 2023 -
Content ArticleThis study in Intensive and Critical Care Nursing examined the association between safety attitudes, quality of care, missed care, nurse staffing levels and the rate of healthcare-associated infection (HAI) in adult intensive care units (ICUs). The authors concluded that positive safety culture and better nurse staffing levels can lower the rates of HAIs in ICUs. Improvements to nurse staffing will reduce nursing workloads, which may reduce missed care, increase job satisfaction, and, ultimately, reduce HAIs.
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News Article
NHS whistleblowers warn of 'unsafe' A&E staff shortages
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A group of senior doctors has accused NHS Grampian of ignoring their safety concerns about emergency departments. They told BBC Scotland News they were speaking out because they feel they cannot deliver a safe level of care. The medics said staff shortages meant Grampian's two A&Es have no senior registrars on shift to make key decisions about patients for the majority of weekend night shifts. Documents seen by the BBC News show medics have been raising concerns since 2021, both with NHS Grampian and the Scottish government, and in July this year submitted a formal whistleblowing complaint about the situation. One doctor said: "The staff are in an impossible situation. "We are witnessing ongoing harm with unacceptable delays to the assessment and treatment of patients. "There have been avoidable deaths and at other times there are too long delays getting to patients who may be suffering from a serious condition like stroke or sepsis." Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 August 2023 -
Content ArticleGeorgia Stevenson discusses NHS England’s Long Term Workforce Plan, evaluating its potential to alleviate staffing shortages, enhance training routes, and ultimately improve care quality in maternity and neonatal services.
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News ArticleNHS mental health services are stuck in a “vicious cycle” of short staffing and overwhelming pressures, a government committee has warned. Rising demand for mental health services has “outstripped” the number of staff working within NHS organisations, according to the public accounts committee. A report from the committee warned that ministers must act to get services out of a “doom loop” in which staff shortages is hitting morale and leading people to quit the already-stretched services. It found staffing across mental health services has increased by 22% between 2016 and 17 and 2021 and 22 while referrals for care have increased by 44% over the same period. Healthcare leaders warned there are 1.8 million people on the waiting list for NHS mental health care with hospital bosses “deeply concerned”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 21 July 2023
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Content ArticleThe presentation was held following the inaugural William Rathbone X Lecture, given by Professor Alison Leary, who spoke on the highly topical subject, ‘Thinking differently about nursing workforce challenges.’ The presentation can be watched from The Queen's Nursing Institute website.
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News ArticleAn inspection of an ‘outstanding’ hospital has revealed concerns about unsafe staffing, as well as bullying and undermining behaviour. The then Health Education England issued Frimley Health Foundation Trust 14 mandatory requirements after visiting its Frimley Park Hospital in March to look at training in medical specialties. The risk-based review followed concerns in the 2022 national training survey and previous quality interventions by HEE. Among the problems HEE was told about were: Junior doctors feeling staffing on some shifts was unsafe. Foundation year one doctors were sometimes the only doctors on a ward, while one foundation doctor spent their first weekend on call looking after two wards by themselves. Concerns about bullying and undermining behaviour in an unnamed department, and consultant behaviour during weekend handover which left some staff feeling “uncomfortable”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 11 July 2023
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News ArticleNearly half of all NHS hospital maternity services covered so far by a national inspection programme have been rated as substandard, the Observer can reveal. The Care Quality Commission (CQC), which regulates health and care providers in England, began its maternity inspection programme last August after the Ockenden review into the Shropshire maternity scandal, which saw 300 babies left dead or brain damaged by inadequate NHS care. Of the services inspected under the programme, which focuses on safety and leadership, about two-thirds have been found to have insufficient staffing, including some services that were rated as good overall. Eleven services saw their rating fall from their previous inspection. Dr Suzanne Tyler of the Royal College of Midwives said: “Report after report has made a direct connection between staffing levels and safety, yet the midwife shortage is worsening. Midwives are desperately trying to plug the gaps – in England alone we estimate that midwives work around 100,000 extra unpaid hours a week to keep maternity services safe. This is clearly unsustainable and now is the time for the chancellor to put his hand in the Treasury pocket and give maternity services the funding that is so desperately needed.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 9 July 2023
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Content ArticleThis report assesses why NHS hospitals are failing to deliver higher activity despite higher spending on the service and higher levels of staffing over the last couple of years. It argues that politicians need to urgently focus on capital investment, staff retention and boosting management capacity, and sets out key questions for policy makers to address if they want to solve the NHS crisis. The NHS has been on a longer-term negative trajectory: most of the challenges identified in the report existed before the pandemic and have been exacerbated since.
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Content ArticleThis is the 15th annual clinical radiology census report by The Royal College of Radiologists. The census received a 100% response rate, meaning this report presents a comprehensive picture of the clinical radiology workforce in the UK as it stood in October 2022. Key findings The workforce is not keeping pace with demand for services. In 2022, the clinical radiology workforce grew by just 3%. In comparison, demand for diagnostic activity is rising by over 5% annually, and by around 4% for interventional radiology services. The UK now has a 29% shortfall of clinical radiologists, which will rise to 40% in five years without action. By 2027, an additional 3,365 clinical radiologists will be needed to keep up with demand for services. This will have an inevitable impact on the quality-of-care consultants are able to provide. Only 24% of clinical directors believe they had sufficient radiologists to deliver safe and effective patient care. Interventional radiologists are still limited with the care they can provide. Nearly half (48%) of trusts and health boards have inadequate IR services, and only 1/3 (34%) of clinical directors felt they had enough interventional radiologists to deliver safe and effective patient care. Stress and burnout are increasingly common among healthcare professionals, risking an exodus of experienced staff. 100% of clinical directors (CDs) are concerned about staff morale and burnout in their department. 76% of consultants (WTE) who left in 2022 were under 60. We are seeing increasing trends that the workforce is simply not able to manage the increase in demand for services. 99% of departments were unable to manage their reporting demand without incurring additional costs. Across the UK, health systems spent £223 million on managing excess reporting demand in 2022, equivalent to 2,309 full-time consultant positions.
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Content ArticleHuge issues are facing the UK’s medical workforce: angst among staff, battles for training opportunities, a lack of basic amenities, discrimination, shortages of posts, roles with no career progression, and a failure to support workers asking for pay reviews. In this BMJ opinion piece, Partha Kar says we need fresh leadership to lead basic changes with support from the royal colleges and unions, and other external organisations need to step up now.
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Content ArticleAppeals to give better resources to the NHS ‘front line’ are problematic when they divert attention away from more serious issues, especially when spending on more staff comes at the price of investing in other areas where the money may have a greater impact, emphasises Steve Black in this article published by HSJ.
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News Article
Work pressures driving nurses and midwives away
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Work pressures are driving thousands of nurses and midwives a year away from the profession, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) says. The NMC said retention was becoming a major concern despite an overall growth in the register. Its annual report found 27,000 professionals had left the register in the UK in the year to the end of March. While retirement appeared to be the most common reason for leaving, health and exhaustion were cited as the next. NMC Chief Executive Andrea Sutcliffe said: "There are clear warnings workforce pressures are driving people away. "Many are leaving earlier than planned, because of burnout and exhaustion, lack of support from colleagues, concerns about quality of care and workload and staffing levels." Read full story Source: BBC News, 24 May 2023 -
Content ArticleMany cross-sectional studies and reviews have demonstrated that higher registered nurse staffing levels are associated with better patient outcomes. The aim of this study was to identify and assess the evidence for an association between nurse staffing levels, including the composition of the nursing team, and patient outcomes in acute care settings from longitudinal studies.
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Content ArticleThe Bucharest Declaration is the outcome of a World Health Organization (WHO) high-level regional meeting on health and care workforce in Europe that took place in Bucharest 22-23 March 2023. It makes 11 statements relating to the workforce crisis facing countries across Europe about retention, recruitment and staff safety.
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Content Article
This is part of our series of Patient Safety Spotlight interviews, where we talk to people working for patient safety about their role and what motivates them. Stephen talks to us about his time as turnaround Chair of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, how NHS boards can ensure they live their values and why creating a safe space to share concerns improves patient safety. -
Content ArticlePeter Griffiths and Chiara Dall'Ora, in this BMJ Editorial, discuss the staffing shortages in the NHS and what needs to be done.
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Content ArticleThe aim of this Australian study was to assess the impact of adding assistants in nursing to acute care hospital ward nurse staffing on adverse patient outcomes using administrative health data. The results suggest that the introduction of assistants in nursing into ward staffing in an additive role should be done under a protocol which clearly defines their role, scope of practice, and working relationship with registered nurses, and the impact on patient care should be monitored.
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Content ArticleHealth and care workers in all parts of Europe are experiencing overwork, with high levels of burnout. This opinion piece in the BMJ looks at the issue of healthcare professionals leaving European health systems to take early retirement or work in other countries where pay and conditions are better. It highlights the causes of this exodus, including increasing patient complexity, salary erosion and work-life balance. It argues that policies should prioritise retaining existing staff, as increased training numbers offer only a partial, long term answer.to the crisis, highlighting potential approaches governments can take to retain highly qualified healthcare staff.
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News Article
NHS managers covering up issues - whistleblower
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Managers at a medical rehabilitation unit are "covering it up" when issues are raised, a whistleblower has said. The whistleblower claimed Cambridge Rehabilitation Unit (CRU) management bullied staff who flagged concerns over shortages and unsafe practice. Documents detail claims of "dangerous" staffing levels, patients left in bed all day without therapy and a one-star food hygiene rating. Through the Freedom of Information Act, the BBC discovered three whistleblowing complaints were made to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) between May and August last year. The first said wards "run on dangerous levels of staff" and no action was taken when staff flagged concerns. The second stated there was "bullying occurring from management when staff raise concerns regarding short staffing and unsafe practice". They said: "When issues relating to patient safety are raised... management are 'covering it up'." Read full story Source: BBC News, 9 May 2023 -
Content ArticleThe nature of patient needs and ward activity is changing. Inpatients tend to be more ill than they used to be, many with complex needs often arising from multiple long-term conditions. At the same time, hospitals face the challenges of a shortage and high turnover of registered nurses. This review presents recent evidence from National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)-funded research, including studies on the number of staff needed, the support workforce and the organisation of care on the wards. While few research studies have explored the similar pressures that occur in community and social care, the learning from hospitals may be useful to decision makers in these areas.
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News ArticlePatients were left on trolleys for up to four days at a major NHS hospital where whistleblowers raised concerns over “unsafe” staffing levels, it has emerged. In a scathing report, the NHS safety watchdog said it found patients waiting on trolleys, in corridors and outside nursing bays at Good Hope and Heartlands hospital, run by the scandal-hit University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. In one incident flagged by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), a patient’s skin ulcers had grown significantly worse while they waited for four days on a trolley without an appropriate mattress. At the time of the inspection, most patients had been waiting for more than two days on trolleys, according to the CQC. The inspection took place in December, after concerns were raised by patients and families over care. The CQC said staff told inspectors they’d been left in “unsafe situations” due to poor staffing. Read full story Source: The Independent, 19 April 2023
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Content ArticleCalculating nurse staffing in the acute hospital has become a key issue but solutions appear distant. Community, mental health and areas such as learning disability nursing have attracted less attention and remain intractable. This review from Leary and Punshon aimed to examine current approaches to the issue across many disciplines.
