You can’t argue with statistics – or can you?

The results of two major surveys were released last week and laid bare the extent to which nurses are overstretched and undervalued. Both the annual NHS staff survey and an investigation by the BBC provided further proof that there are not enough staff around to ensure that nurses can deliver safe and effective care.

The staff survey is the biggest of its kind in the UK, and probably the world, with 299,000 respondents taking the trouble to answer scores of questions. Fewer than one in three agreed there are enough staff to do their job properly, which should be enough in itself to make ministers realise that urgent action is needed to boost numbers.

The BBC investigation looked in more detail at what NHS organisations are doing to make up the shortfall, and found more than two thirds are recruiting actively overseas in a desperate bid to shore up their staffing levels. So the health service is once again raiding countries that can ill afford to lose their nursing staff because our own workforce planners are so inept.

Unfortunately, the Department of Health responded to the BBC’s findings and similar others with its well-worn line that there are 10,600 more nurses now than in May 2010 – which only goes to prove that 100% of statistics are meaningless when taken out of context. Never mind the increase in patient numbers, acuity and expectations, and never mind that 10,600 staff spread evenly across our hospital wards and community teams amounts to precious little.

The government is in denial over staffing levels, when it should be taking a rational look at the numbers and skill mix that are needed, and growing the workforce to meet rising demand over the years ahead. Future staff surveys might then produce more positive results, and poorer countries will get to keep the nurses that they spent time and money training and developing.