An article I wrote for Our NHS, with some additional reporting by Caroline Molley.
A shortage of nursing staff has been a chronic problem in the NHS since its inception - and it is getting worse.
The last few months have seen a stream of reports into poor patient care - first Francis, last month Keogh, and yesterday Professor Don Berwick’s report into patient safety. Each highlights the problem of lack of staff, particularly nurses.
Yesterday Berwick recommended that new guidance to protect patients against “the dangers of inadequate staffing” be set up “as soon as possible.”
It also emerged yesterday that Sir Robert Francis - author of the landmark report into mid-Staffordshire - is now calling for a “benchmark” level of staffing, “below which you cannot be safe”.
Francis’s intervention is significant because his February report shied away from recommending mandatory minimum ratios of nurses to patients. He told concerned healthcare professionals and patients last week that he had seen evidence that persuaded him to revisit the issue.
