Safer Staffing

NHS England and the Care Quality Commission issued joint guidance to Trusts on the delivery of the ‘Hard Truths’ commitments associated with publishing staffing data regarding nursing, midwifery and care staff levels.

The guidance was issued by Jane Cummings, Chief Nursing Officer for England, and Professor Sir Mike Richards, Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Care Quality Commission. It follows on from National Quality Board guidance ‘How to ensure the right people, with the right skills, are in the right place at the right time’ and Government commitments in ‘Hard Truths’

The latest guidance does not mandate a one size fits all approach. It recognises that there is no single ratio or formula that should be used to calculate staffing levels. Organisations and clinical specialisms differ.  In addition culture, leadership and training are essential if people are to make the right decisions and create a supportive environment where staff are able to provide compassionate care.

It is worth noting that being a specialist provider for children and young people makes Alder Hey unique in terms of its staffing guidance. As an example, guidance while not mandating specific staffing levels does recommend the use of evidence based tools. Most available tools are developed for use in adult based care, including the NICE model.

For children, there are only two recognised models, developed by Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and Paediatric Intensive Care Society (PICS). In addition, Alder Hey provides services such as Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), as one of only a few centres nationally – such specialist services carry their own staffing protocols.

The following document, Nurse Staffing Review details issues and actions relating to Nurse Staffing at Alder Hey. In particular it highlights the progress made since the July 2013 staffing review:

• Total growth of 43.22 nurse staff since July 2013 (Whole Time Equivalent)
• Ward budgets uplifted by 23% to cover staff absence
• Further staff recruitment approved and in progress (including Theatres and Maternity/Sickness cover pool)

You can download our Nurse Staffing Review report to Board here.

Monthly staffing reports

All reports are in PDF format. Please click to view or right click and choose 'Save as...' to download.

• Staffing by ward - Nov 2018
• Staffing by ward - July 2018
• Staffing by ward - May 2018
• February 2018 Staffing
• April 2018 Staffing
• January 2018 Staffing
• March 2018 Staffing
• Staffing by ward - April 2018
• Staffing by ward - Aug 2018
• Staffing by ward - Dec 2018