NHS wards ‘desperately unsafe’ with almost every hospital now missing staffing targets
Data suggests gaps in rotas are being plugged with healthcare assistants, with one employee revealing: 'Corners are cuts and safety is compromised daily'
HOSPITALS are running wards with a dangerously low number of nurses, an investigation suggests.
Almost every acute hospital in England is failing to meet its own standard on nurse numbers, official data shows.
Nurses described “desperately unsafe” numbers of registered nurses, while some say patients are being put at risk.
The problem appears to have grown since spending on agency staff was capped by ministers.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt ordered NHS trusts to publish monthly data on staffing levels after the mid-Staffordshire scandal, in which hundreds died as a result of poor care. But 96 per cent of acute hospitals reporting figures fell short of their planned level for registered nurses working during the day last October.
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All but 15 per cent also missed their target for nurses working at night that month, according to analysis by the Health Service Journal.
The data suggests gaps in rotas are being plugged with healthcare assistants.
One nurse said: “Corners are cut and safety compromised daily.” Another said: “I could give a multitude of examples of near-misses.”
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “These figures show almost every hospital in England is now short of nursing staff.
“Tired, overworked nurses cannot be expected to continue providing quality care.”
A Dept of Health spokeswoman said: “We expect all parts of the NHS to ensure they have the right staff in the right place at the right time to provide safe care.”