Unison urges nurses to record 24-hour snapshot of shift

Public sector union Unison has called on NHS nurses across England to record nurse-to-patient ratios on their wards as part of a survey of staffing levels, over 24 hours on Tuesday 7 February.

As part of Unison’s sixth annual survey into safe staffing levels, respondents were asked to record any overtime worked, whether they took their breaks and the number of bank and agency staff on their shift.

Some of the information they were asked to provide included: the length of their shift; if they worked any overtime (and if so, how much); how many total patients during their shift; the total number of nurses during their shift; if they were able to take some, all or none of their breaks; the percentage of their shift spent working face-to-face with patients; the number of bank and/or agency staff on their shift; and if their workplace has a set staffing ratio for nursing staff and what that is.

Christina McAnea, Unison head of health, said: “We are facing the worst ever year for demand in the NHS and this is the busiest time of the year for hospitals, placing them under huge strain. NHS staff want to give patients safe, dignified and compassionate care yet nearly two-thirds of respondents to last year’s survey thought there were too few people working on their shift to allow this.”

“We expect this year’s snapshot to show just how desperate the situation has become and how hard staff are working to keep things together. Hospitals are under intolerable strain, and increasingly staff are unable to provide the ideal level of care for patients.

“We have been campaigning to improve staffing levels for years. But previous surveys have revealed that many NHS workplaces still have too few nurses.”