The newly updated RCN Nursing Workforce Standards set out what is required to secure a nursing workforce able to deliver the safe, effective, compassionate, person-centred nursing care our patients and service users need and deserve.

We introduced the standards in 2021, at the height of the COVID pandemic, when nursing was in the spotlight. They were the first national blueprint for addressing nursing shortages across the UK, setting out the standards we expect of a nursing workforce in all health and care settings.

Working alongside our members, the standards have now been updated to ensure they remain relevant, reflect new evidence and respond to feedback from our members.

With an ever-deepening workforce crisis, the revised standards are needed now more than ever. They have been strengthened to reflect our requirements for access to continuing professional development, the right to work in healthy environments, and better equity and diversity.

Since the pandemic, we’ve seen redeployment increasingly used to cover staffing shortfalls. Our updated standards address this issue, alongside guidance on tackling racism and discrimination in the workplace, preparing for health and climate emergencies, and reasonable adjustments for disabled staff and pregnant people.

Other changes to the standards include:

• staffing must always exceed the critical minimum levels, defined by registered nurse-to-patient ratios
• for the first time, we have specified a minimum staffing uplift of 27% in nursing establishments to account for planned and unplanned absences. This is in addition to the RCN's work on defining minimum staffing levels
• guidance on the scope for both NHS staff and those working in the independent sector to negotiate their pay, terms and conditions when doing extra shifts 
• a list of "red flags" to highlight to nursing colleagues some key areas of no compromise in the workplace, such as the need to take breaks while on shift.

Nursing staff can use our standards to help frame concerns to their managers. Managers can use them to raise issues with senior nurse leaders; and senior nurse leaders can use the standards as evidence to their boards to bring about evidence-based change.

RCN Chief Nursing Officer Lynn Woolsey said: "The Nursing Workforce Standards are already being used by RCN members to challenge staffing and safety issues in their workplaces. I’m delighted that the newly revised edition considers new evidence as well as feedback from our members and nursing experts.

“This will ensure the standards remain relevant, useful and accessible to all members working across the nursing profession to articulate what is needed from employers to ensure their nursing workforce can provide safe and effective care.”

Read the updated Nursing Workforce Standards. Find out more about how to become a champion of the standards.