Safe staffing

To ensure that our ward areas and departments are staffed safely, our senior nurses
and midwives complete regular asSafe staffing levels graphicsessments of how many staff are needed on each shift to care for our patients.

The number of nurses and midwives needed is calculated by how many patients we are caring for and how unwell these patients are. For example, patients who have complex health needs will need more intensive nursing care and support.

Twice a year, we review the number of registered and unregistered nurses on all of our wards. We also compare our staffing levels with similar size hospitals and make recommendations to our trust board.

Every month, we review the number of nurses and midwives who work in our ward areas and departments and also review how many nurses and midwives we required throughout the month, compared with the number we acutally had.

The monthly review helps us to form a safe staffing report and recommendations, which is shared with our trust board.

You can view the reports via the links below.

Safe staffing levels poster

Each of our wards has a safe staffing poster at the entrance to the ward.

Our senior nurses update the posters regularly so that our people, patients and visitors can see the number of planned staff, and how many staff we actually have working.

This also includes nurses, student nurses, clinical support workers, ward clerk and housekeeper.  The posters also show the named nurse in charge of the ward that day and when the poster was last updated.

Safe staffing poster example

Inpatient comment:

Everyone offered words of such reassurance and kindness. I felt so cared for and the communication with me at all times was fantastic.