Public Board papers 31.03.22

Agenda Item 11/22c

Meeting of the Board of Directors Thursday 31 st March 2022 Six Monthly Compliance with NICE Safe Staffing Guidelines

1.

Background The Trust has carried out a bi-annual audit of patient acuity and dependency since 2010 using the Safer Nursing Care Tool© (SNCT). The SNCT is embedded within the e- rostering system and calculates the baseline nursing establishment required to meet patient care need and has been used successfully to inform and support workforce planning over this period. In the wake of the final report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry published in February 2013 and the Government’s commitment to safe staffing requirements outlined in a succession of publications, NICE Safe Staffing Guidelines were published in July 2014, updated by NHS Improvement in January 2018 and in conjunction with, Developing Workforce Safeguards’ October 2018. The NICE guidance on safe staffing addresses five overarching elements which need to be met: • Organisational strategy • Principles for determining nursing staff requirements • Setting the ward nursing establishment • Assessing availability of nursing staff on the day to meet patient need • Monitoring and evaluation of nursing staff establishments. The Trust continues to meet the expectations of the National Quality Board relating to nursing, midwifery and care staffing capacity and capability, which were published in 2013. It is also compliant with the NICE guidance and publishes this data publicly including the care hours per day on a monthly basis through the integrated performance report and on The Model Hospital website via returns to the Strategic Data Collection Service (SDCS). The Chief Nursing Officer’s paper Safer Staffing: A Guide to Care Contact Time published in November 2014, sets out the expectations of commissioners and providers to optimise nursing, midwifery and care staffing capacity and capability so that they can deliver high quality care and the best possible outcomes for their patients. The Trust meets this expectation. In February 2018 NHS Improvement updated their guidance on agency staffing rules, these rules set a ceiling on total agency spending by each trust and are set in the light of each trusts’ agency spend percentage of their total staff spend. As a requirement of the guidance, the board of directors has monthly review of the details and summary of planned and actual staffing on a ward-by-ward basis through the integrated quality and performance report. Furthermore, the guidance requires that organisational responsibility and accountability for budgeted nurse staffing establishments sits with the Board of Directors and must encompass a formal board level review. This paper provides the board with the information required for it to discharge this duty.

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