NICE publishes previously withheld safe staffing evidence
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has released previously withheld evidence reviews on safe nurse staffing.
NICE’s work on safe staffing was shelved last year and taken on by NHS Improvement in conjunction with NHS England.
Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) the four documents, which were written to support NICE's work on staffing levels, were withheld to allow NHS Improvement time to assess them as part of an ongoing review of safe staffing.
But an internal review by NICE has led to the release of the documents, which cover safe nurse staffing in inpatient mental health settings, adult nursing care in community settings and accident and emergency.
The fourth covers management and organisational approaches that support safe staffing in nursing and midwifery.
The panel of NICE board members who conducted the review of the FOI decision suggested that disclosure of the documents is in the interests of the public and that all unpublished evidence reviews should be released.
NICE said the reviews do not constitute any form of final guidance.