Pa Daly
Question:527. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Health the monthly breakdown of patient-to-nurse ratio across all acute hospitals to date in 2020, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43070/20]
View answerTuesday, 15 December 2020
Questions (527)
Written answers
The Safe Staffing Framework is an evidence-based methodology to determining the staffing required based on patient acuity and dependency.
On 16 April 2018, the Minister for Health launched the Final Report and Recommendations by the Taskforce on Staffing and Skill Mix for Nursing, on a Framework for Safe Nurse Staffing and Skill Mix in General and Specialist Medical and Surgical Care Settings in Adult Hospitals.
The report set out for the first time, an evidenced based method to determine optimum nurse staffing and skill mix levels across general and specialist medical and surgical patient care settings in acute hospitals. This is Phase 1 of the Framework and was implemented and tested through a pilot project across three hospital sites; Beaumont Hospital, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda and St Columcille's, Loughlinstown.
The impact reports, using the data collected over two years with the support of a specific ICT system, have validated the initial findings form the pilot test. There is evidence of sustained improvements to patient outcomes, service and financial efficiencies and a number of staff benefits including increased retention in areas where the Framework has been fully implemented.
This phase of The Framework was handed over to the HSE in October 2019 for national rollout. To date the first three Model 4 hospitals have received their uplift and the sequential roll out is continuing. The next three Model 4 hospitals have been engaged with and baseline data collection has started. The contract for the ICT system was delayed due to Covid-19 but will be signed shortly.
The Framework for Safe Nurse Staffing and Skill Mix and the international research and evidence do not support a nurse-to-patient ratio based approach to meet both patient and staff outcomes. A core assumption of the Framework is that ‘all patient care needs are different’, this would be undermined if a ratio-based approach was taken as it presume all patients require the same level of nursing care.