Public Sector Resourcing - RCN Report Will Fuel Staffing Levels Debate, Says REC Healthcare

The recent report by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) underlined the need to maintain adequate numbers of staff to meet patient needs, despite the ongoing budgetary squeeze. REC Healthcare has welcomed specific RCN recommendations on enforcing workable nurse to patient ratios.

Commenting on the RCN line, Tom Hadley, Director of Policy and Professional Services at the REC, says:

"Set quotas in terms of the number of nurses per patients should be considered as a means of maintaining minimum staffing levels. Similar systems are already in place in other countries – included in the US - and there is an urgent need for some objective criteria to help address increasing concerns over the quality of care”.

“Recent reports and media stories have turned the spotlight on this area, with insufficient staffing levels cited as one of the root causes of poor patient experiences. Set quotas can form part of the solution. At the same time, specialist healthcare agencies can play an important supporting role by ensuring that staffing gaps are filled at short notice and that all those placed into front line roles are suitably skilled and vetted”.

The next REC Healthcare meeting is on April 5^th at the Royal College of Surgeons in London. The agenda includes external speakers from NHS Employers, the Government Procurement Services (GPS) and the General Medical Council (GMC).

For information on the REC’s ongoing punlic sector resourcing campaign, go to: http://www.rec.uk.com/resourcing