Safe staffing levels

The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) released a safe staffing guideline (2014) making recommendations on safe staffing for nursing in adult inpatient wards in acute hospitals.

All hospitals are required to publish information about the number of nursing and midwifery staff working on each ward, together with the percentage of shifts meeting safe staffing guidelines.

This is part of the NHS response to the Francis report which called for greater openness and transparency in the Health Service.

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust (BHT) is committed to ensuring that levels of registered and unregistered, match the acuity and dependency needs of patients within clinical areas across the Trust. This includes an appropriate level and skill mix of nursing and midwifery staff to provide safe and effective care. Information about staffing levels is published monthly.

Assurance on Nursing & Midwifery Safer Staffing including Bi-Annual Establishment Reviews are also reported to BHT Executive Management Committee and to public meetings of our Board of Directors.

For more information about safe staffing levels in hospitals, see NHS England

NHS Digital safe staffing data: Planned vs Actual Hours including Care Hours Per Patient Day (CHPPD).  

When it comes to reviewing the data:

Where there are monthly actual hours over/under planned, this has been known at the time of the shift and reviewed by a senior nurse. Mitigating actions are always put in place to ensure patient safety and care. We have a robust staffing escalation process across sites that allow the nurse in charge to escalate any staffing concerns promptly. These concerns are reviewed in real-time, and necessary actions are taken to maintain patient safety.

Actual hours being under planned for the month in any clinical area might be due to a planned decision to safely reduce staffing based on service needs. These needs could stem from lower occupancy, reduced demand, or decreased patient acuity/dependency. Due to national standards of reporting, this would still show as actual hours under planned

Actual hours under planned in any area, does not mean that there was unsafe staffing levels. Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust is committed to ensuring patients are safe and always cared for.

Further information

Please view further information on Care Hours per Patient Day (CHPPD).

For any further enquiries regarding the data, please contact Jose Loreto Facultad, jose.loreto@nhs.net