The suspension of safe staffing guidance produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has left almost three quarters of nurses worried that patient safety will suffer, a major UK survey has revealed.
After the work was brought to a halt by NHS England last year, organisations were told guidelines that had already been produced for acute adult inpatient wards and maternity units should be upheld.
However, only 17% of survey respondents working on an adult inpatient ward in an acute hospital in England said their organisation continued to use the guidance. Almost two-thirds – 61% – said they did not know whether their employer was continuing to use it or not.
The union Unison, which carried out the snapshot survey of 2,708 nurses on 9 February, said the suspension of the NICE guidance had caused “mass confusion” in acute settings.
Full Unison report Pushing the call button on unsafe staffing: who will come to our aid?
Full story in The Nursing Times 25 April 2016