10.07.15
NICE to publish ‘informal’ A&E safe staffing guidance
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is to publish the information which would have made up its safe staffing guidelines for A&E at the end of July, but “not as formal guidance”.
Last month, it was announced that NICE would be suspending its work in this area after NHS England said it would “take forward the issue of staffing work as part of a wider programme of service improvement”.
A NICE spokesperson said the organisation was asked to suspend the safe staffing programme and not to begin new activity.
But she said: “Two evidence reviews that were in progress will be completed, to help inform future work on safe staffing. The information that would have been contained in the final draft of the NICE safe staffing guidelines for accident and emergency departments will be made available on the NICE website but not as formal NICE guidance.
“Instead, the information contained within the final draft document will be published in an alternative format, as a record of the guidance developer’s conclusions. This is in the interests of transparency, and to assist others looking for information on safe staffing. This is scheduled to be published on the NICE website at the end of July.”
A Royal College of Nursing spokesperson welcomed the decision, adding that it will be “vital” that NICE’s recommendations are not ignored and are acted upon by NHS England and the government.
They added that NICE’s work is central to patient safety and that the organisation should be “reinstated” and that there is a continued role for NICE in future.
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