Staff shortages threaten patient safety, Unison warns

Safe staffing levels across the NHS have worsened significantly over the past year, according to a survey conducted by Unison.

The survey, ‘Pushing the Call Button on Unsafe Staffing: Who Will Come to our Aid?’, questioned nursing professionals across the UK and found that 63 per cent of respondents felt there were inadequate numbers of staff on the wards to ensure safe, dignified and compassionate care. This represents a significant increase from the year before, when 45 per cent felt their were inadequate staffing numbers.

67 per cent said that staffing levels had worsened over the past year, with 68 per cent saying they had considered leaving their role within the last 12 months.

The survey also questioned nurses on the government’s decision to cap the amount spent on agency staff, which 39 per cent felt had affected staffing levels in their workplace.

The survey was conducted after the government put a stop to the National Institute of Clinical Excellence’s (NICE) work into safe staffing levels and 72 per cent of respondents said they were worried that staffing levels would worsen and patient safety suffer as a result of the decision.

Christina McAnea, Unison’s head of health, said: “Two recent government decisions have made matters much worse for the NHS, its staff and its patients. Ending NICE’s safe staffing work was a mistake, and the introduction of the agency cap has meant even fewer staff on the wards.

“Health workers are being run ragged, trying to provide safe, compassionate care to all their patients, but are struggling because there are quite simply too few of them to go around. It’s no wonder so many are seriously considering leaving the NHS.

“Nurses and midwives should not have to ration their time and make the difficult choice as to which patients receive care and which miss out. Even working through their breaks and staying late or coming in early isn’t enough. It’s unfair for staff to be in this position and it puts patients at risk.”

McAnea suggests that the introduction of minimum nurse to patient ratios should be introduced, which she claims would ‘relieve the pressure on the NHS’ already overworked and overstressed workforce’, as well as ‘significantly improve the quality of patients’ hospital experiences’.