Patient outcomes and safer staffing

Safer staffing

On this page, on a monthly basis, you will be able to find staffing data for individual wards as well as a trust wide staffing data report.

This is being published as part of a national initiative from the governments ‘hard truths’ response to the Francis report. It means that if you are a member of staff, patient or relative, you will be able to examine the staffing history of a ward.

The data will show what the average nurse, midwife and care staffing level was over a month, starting in May 2014, compared with the planned level (this is the level agreed by the board, based on what evidence shows is the typical staffing level requirements for each ward.)

The trust would expect the actual level to be close to the planned level. However if a ward is below 100%, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is understaffed or unsafe. Likewise, if a ward is above the planned level, it doesn’t necessarily mean a ward is overstaffed due to the context and nuances of the data, for example, nurses, midwives and care staff working as part of a wider multidisciplinary ward team, the demands on wards changing quickly and the nature of each ward varying.

We are working towards providing web accessible versions of our safer staffing reports.  We expect to add these in the coming months, but please do contact us directly via our Patient Advice and help centre if you require any specific information more immediately.