Sorca Clarke
Question:579. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Health the recommended number of paediatric nursing posts in an accident and emergency department seeing more than 12,000 children a year. [45124/23]
View answerTuesday, 17 October 2023
Questions (579)
Written answers
As the Deputy may be aware, I launched the Framework for Safe Nurse Staffing and Skill Mix in Adult Emergency Care settings in 2022. This uses a systematic approach, namely the Nursing Hours per Patient Presentation (NHpPP), to determine safe nurse staffing requirements; the adjustment of skill mix to ensure that care is delivered by 85% Registered Nurses and 15% Health Care Assistants. This policy document only focuses on Adult Emergency Care settings and not paediatric emergency care settings.
There is currently no standardised systematic approach to determining the nurse staffing requirements in paediatric emergency care settings. There is however a number of different workforce tools encompassing a variety of methods to predict staffing levels across paediatric hospitals. International evidence concurs with this and does not identify a preferred or agreed approach.
Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) are currently reviewing this with an aim to providing a standardised approach to staffing in both inpatient and emergency care areas. Evidence from the Safe Staffing Framework approach identifies a standardised, evidence based method including important predictors of acuity and patient need such a triage category, numbers and presentations has led to improved outcomes for patients, staff and organisations. My Department are engaging with CHI to ensure the approach applied within paediatric settings remains consistent with national policy.