Nursing ratio numbers 'advice not minimum'
The body that oversees NHS standards is setting out draft guidance for hospitals in England, which suggests patient safety is at risk if a nurse has to care for more than eight people during daytime hours. But the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, or NICE, has stopped short of recommending a minimum staffing level, saying hospitals need to have flexibility.
Speaking on the Today programme, Professor Gillian Leng, NICE's deputy chief executive of NICE, said: "NICE have not set a minimum number of nurses per patient, what we have issued is advice."
Dr Peter Carter, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, explained, "This is a very helpful step forward... In some of our hospitals, there are simply insufficient nursing staff numbers."
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday 10 May 2014.
10 May 2014
- From the section Health