SAFE REGISTERED NURSE STAFFING ON HOSPITAL WARDS

Early day motion 643, tabled 29 October 2013 by Andrew George (Liberal Democrat). Signed by 25 members.

That this House shares deep concern about occasions when patient safety has been compromised on acute hospital wards; believes that any cases of inexcusably poor nurse practice should be rooted out; notes however, that many reports on such cases provide compelling evidence of a link between the adequacy of registered nurse numbers and the quality of patient outcomes; supports the work of the Safe Staffing Alliance in highlighting the need for safe registered nurse staffing , that cases of poor staffing should be routinely reported and that hospital care should be underpinned by a fundamental standard where a limit of eight patients to each registered nurse, excluding the nurse in charge, should never be breached; further notes recent supportive comments by respected authorities including Robert Francis QC; and calls on the Government to introduce new benchmark standards of safe registered nurse staffing on hospital wards.

Signatures by party: Labour 15, Liberal Democrat 4, DUP 3, Social Democratic and Labour Party 2, Independent 1.