New nursing plan for wards based on sickness rather than size or cost

A new model of nursing care where wards are staffed according to how sick patients are rather than ward size or cost will shortly be trialled in three hospitals under a €2 million pilot scheme.

If it proves viable following testing throughout 2016, it will be rolled out nationally, ending the current “one size fits all approach” to calculating ward staffing levels.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said extending the model nationwide would “avoid any repeat of the recent years when there was no floor to nurse staffing levels, and reductions took place without any assessment of impact upon patients or upon the nursing staff and their ability to provide safe care”.

The new framework for calculating nurse number and type on wards is set out in an interim report by the Taskforce on Staffing and Skill Mix for Nursing, established in response to the INMO’s Safe Staffing Campaign, launched in May 2014.

The INMO said the taskforce focused on the need to introduce agreed measures, which would determine patient acuity and need, and ensure “a stable, consistent, adequate and safe nursing workforce is available at all times”.

During the test phase, local implementation groups will examine, inter alia, the effectiveness of the proposed model against the current staffing profile and the cost implications.

Health Minister Leo Varadkar said yesterday that the new framework was about “making sure the right number of nurses with the right skills are on each ward”.

“If it works, and I think it will, we will spread it across the country,” he said.

Among the recommendations contained in the interim report, published yesterday, are that a patient safety “tipping point” at ward level be monitored and determined locally.

It says when calculating the number and type of nurses to be deployed on any given ward, steps should be taken to measure how sick patients are and to ensure each ward has an optimum skill mix.

A spokesperson for Mr Varadkar said last night that hospitals were “queuing up” to take part in the pilot which will include both large and small scale acute hospitals, with testing taking place in general and specialist medical and surgical inpatient units.

On completion of the pilot, the Taskforce Steering Committee will prepare a final report and recommendations.

INMO general secretary, and staffing taskforce member, Liam Doran said the new framework marked “a very positive day for nursing in Ireland”.