The new regulator NHS Improvement has been accused of “undermining and dismantling” official safe staffing guidance, after it was revealed that it was revisiting work already completed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
Senior sources close to the work at the regulator have said it is planning to publish safe staffing guidance for acute inpatient wards and maternity services.
Nursing Times’ sister title Health Service Journalwas told the action risks confusing hospitals and undermining the guidance published by NICE following the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust public inquiry.
This time last year NHS England chief nursing officer Jane Cummings said in a letter to providers: “Nothing we are doing changes the NICE guidance that has already been issued… The next phase of the NHS’s role in this area is focusing on new care areas and will not involve going back on the guidance already published.”
For full article see Nursing Times 14 June 2016