The UK picture
In England there is no law related to nurse staffing.
The RCN is campaigning for legislation to guarantee nurse staffing levels in England across all sectors and settings.
The Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016 was the first of its kind in the UK.
RCN Wales continues to campaign to protect patient care and empower the ward sister/charge nurse by advocating for the extension of the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016 to children inpatient wards, mental health inpatient wards, community and care home settings.
In May 2019 the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act became law.
The RCN is now focused on monitoring how the law is implemented and making sure it achieves its aims.
RCN members in Northern Ireland are currently undertaking a programme of industrial action to demand measures promoting safe nurse staffing and pay equality.
The number of nursing and midwifery posts vacant across Scotland’s NHS remains a major concern, according to the Royal College of Nursing.
3 Mar 2020
Our campaign for safe and effective care took centre stage during a parliamentary debate on the nursing workforce shortage in England.
28 Feb 2020
We’re urging members to contact their MP ahead of the debate on nursing shortages in England.
28 Feb 2020
The RCN is urging MPs across the West Midlands to support ‘urgent and meaningful measures’ to tackle a critical shortage of nurses.
27 Feb 2020
New polling suggests widespread concern that there are too few nursing staff to provide safe and effective care for the people of Scotland.
27 Feb 2020
We want a meaningful pay rise for all nursing staff and a long-term funding settlement for public health and social care services based on population needs.
26 Feb 2020
Our survey of emergency nursing staff in England reveals the difficulties of providing care to patients in cramped and unsuitable locations.
24 Feb 2020
Nursing staff have voted to accept an offer made in response to their historic strike action.
7 Feb 2020
Extra funding for health and social care services is welcome but a continued long-term focus is needed to tackle current staffing shortages and meet ever-increasing demand, says RCN Scotland.
6 Feb 2020
Nursing staff arrived at 10 Downing Street to hand in petitions with over 220,000 signatures calling for urgent action to fix the nursing workforce crisis in England.
Each month you'll receive an email with a quick and easy online action you can take to help us make sure we have safe staffing levels in England.
