Safe staffing | Royal College of Nursing

Safe staffing means having enough nursing staff with the right skills and knowledge, in the right place, at the right time. Without safe staffing levels in place, nursing staff are struggling to provide patients with the safe and effective care they would like to, and which patients deserve.

We're calling for safe and effective care to be enshrined in law in each UK country.

Calling for safe staffing across the UK

England

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.

> Join the campaign

Scotland

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.

Join the campaign

Northern Ireland

RCN members in Northern Ireland are currently undertaking a programme of industrial action to demand measures promoting safe nurse staffing and pay equality.

> Join the campaign

Our principles for staffing for safe and effective care

Accountability

We want it to be clear whose job it is to make sure there are enough nurses to meet patients’ needs.

Numbers

We want the right number of nurses, with the right skills, to be in the right place, at the right time - so patients’ needs are met .

Strategy

We want a vision for tackling nurse shortages and making sure nursing helps meet the whole country’s health needs.

Plans

We want clear plans for getting the right numbers and skill mix of nursing staff and we want checks to make sure they really happen.

Education

We want governments to educate enough nursing students, and develop existing staff, to meet patients’ needs.

Find out more about our safe staffing campaign

3 Mar 2020
NHS Scotland nursing vacancies continue to cause concern

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
Safe nurse staffing debate highlights key RCN concerns

Our campaign for safe and effective care took centre stage during a parliamentary debate on the nursing workforce shortage in England.
28 Feb 2020
Ask your MP to attend important parliamentary debate on safe nurse staffing

We’re urging members to contact their MP ahead of the debate on nursing shortages in England.
28 Feb 2020
RCN urges West Midlands MPs to back urgent action to fix nurse shortage

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
Recruiting more nursing staff should be a priority for Scottish Government spending

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
RCN submits pre-budget asks for nursing

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
‘Corridor care’ in hospitals becoming the new norm warns RCN

Our survey of emergency nursing staff in England reveals the difficulties of providing care to patients in cramped and unsuitable locations.
24 Feb 2020
RCN members in Northern Ireland accept proposals on pay parity and safe staffing

Nursing staff have voted to accept an offer made in response to their historic strike action.
7 Feb 2020
RCN comment on Scottish budget 2020-21

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
Members take safe staffing call to heart of government

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.