https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/patient-survival-clearly-linked-nursing-numbers

ALANDMARK study into excess patient deaths across NHS hospitals has found a “very clear and consistent” link between nurse staffing and patient mortality — and that replacing them with lower-paid workers makes no difference.

Dramatic variations in patient death rates were revealed in the first-ever analysis of staffing and death rates over time, sparking calls for NHS England to investigate trusts where deaths have risen.

Study leader Professor Alison Leary told the Sunday Times that the data across 122 NHS trusts over four years showed “a very clear and consistent relationship between the absence of registered nurses available to patients and excess deaths.”

“Although organisations have tried to make up for the lack of registered nurses with other staffing groups, this has not improved survival,” added the chair of workforce modelling at London South Bank University and a senior consultant for the World Health Organisation.

The study, covering December 2020 to May 2024, found that hospitals with lower-than-expected death rates had the highest nurse staffing, with an average of 5.65 hours of registered nurse care per patient per day.

Those with higher-than-expected deaths meanwhile had significantly fewer nurses available to care for patients, with just 4.59 hours of nurse care per patient per day.

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