Patient safety compromised : Safe Staffing Alliance hosted in Parliament
Health Select Committee member, Andrew George MP, will host an event for the Safe Staffing Alliance in Parliament to highlight the vital need for safe registered nurse staff levels on hospital wards across the UK. The event will take place tomorrow,Wednesday 9th October 2013, in the House of Commons.
Mr George has consistently asserted that many of the recent reports into avoidable hospital deaths and poor patient care point to poor registered nurse staffing levels on wards, whilst Health Chiefs have consistently argued that they were a product of poor “culture and leadership”.
The Safe Staffing Alliance, which includes many professional bodies such as the Royal College of Nursing, the Patients Association and the Florence Nightingale Foundation, is promoting the need for a new “fundamental standard” of at least one registered nurse to every eight patients on acute wards. Whilst support for this campaign is growing, Government Ministers are denying that staffing levels are a key issue and have made clear their opposition to the introduction of any benchmark standards – even though there are already mandatory staffing levels in some hospital settings.
Mr George said, “We don’t want to see another Mid Staffs situation. Even if Ministers achieve the best culture and most charismatic leadership on our wards, if there aren’t enough registered nurses patient safety will still be compromised. It’s time to recognise the fundamental standards that are needed to secure patient safety.”
Liberal Democrat Health Minister, Norman Lamb, will attend the reception and meet with Mr George and nurses working at the front line.