Guidance has belatedly been published on safe nurse staffing levels in five new healthcare settings, but the sanitised documents are silent on the real requirement for a workforce that is safe and fit for practice, says Susan Osborne
A stay in hospital as an inpatient left Safe Staffing Alliance chair Susan Osborne feeling isolated and insecure when her basic needs such as comfort and hydration were not met
Staff shortages and cuts to nurse leadership are worldwide problems for the nursing profession. We must work with our international colleagues to ensure staffing levels are safe and that nursing has a place on the global stage, says Susan Osborne.
The government’s pledge to fund an extra 10,000 training places is all well and good but those nurses are needed now, not in 2020, says safe staffing expert Susan Osborne.
With 40,000 registered nurse vacancies in England, the government must stop the cuts and start investing in the NHS as a matter of urgency, says safe staffing expert Susan Osborne.
If nurses can't support their trade union over strike action they should resign en masse, like nurses in California in the 1990s.
With reports showing unsafe staffing levels are contributing to patient harm in the NHS, recruiting and retaining nurses has never been more crucial, says Susan Osborne.
At a time when the NHS is facing unprecedented demand, only nationally mandated ratios will determine the number of nurses required to provide safe and effective patient care, says Susan Osborne.
Making the general public fully aware of the decline of the NHS would force the government to act, says Susan Osborne.
It's time to create a social movement and pull together to lobby for safe staffing levels.
