National Nurses United

12 N AT I O N A L N U R S E W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G NOVEMBER 2012 PHOTO COURTESY OF NEW SOUTH WALES NURSES��� ASSOCIATION Following the tabulation and publication of the results of the surgeneral membership meeting, delegates voted to pursue mandated vey, UNISON made the following statements: nurse-to-patient ratios. ��� UNISON will work with other organizations, including patient Meanwhile, a damning report on unnecessary patient deaths at bodies, to identify a UK model of nurse-to-patient ratios for difone large hospital facility had brought the UK public���s attention to ferent specialties. We will aim to use international evidence as a the issue of declining nursing care standards. The study highlighted benchmark. the deleterious effects of poor staffing ratios on patient care. As in ��� UNISON will campaign for national legislation to enshrine minimany U.S. states without nurse-to-patient ratios, UK RNs consismum nurse-to-patient ratios in all healthcare settings. We will be tently report not being able to provide care up to the standard they discussing this with [members of Parliament] to encourage them would wish, with poor staffing being cited as the top reason. to support our position and to make sure that they are helping In March 2012, the RCN issued a policy briefing on mandatory their local NHS staff achieve staffing levels that enable them to nurse staffing levels, citing the growing body of evidence that ratios deliver safe, compassionate, and dignified care. are effective in providing better patient care and improvIn late October 2012, UNISON invited an NNU ing recruitment and retention of RNs. The RCN made its Australian RNs representative and representative from the Australian first public proclamations that it would be pursuing campaigning for Nursing Federation to address its nursing conference mandated nurse-to-patient ratios through legislation. ratios rented a train, and help strategize for its own campaign to establish The RCN began a campaign to publicize the situation to picking up RNs at each nurse-to-patient ratios through legislation in the UK. the UK public, knowing as nurses do everywhere that stop on their way to a In addition to Australia and the UK, South Korethey enjoy the public���s trust in healthcare matters. huge rally for safe an nurses from the Korean Health and Medical The House of Lords discussed the issue as part of a staffing standards. Workers Union��have been in contact with the Califorlarger debate on a major new health and social care bill. nia Nurses Association and National Nurses United for several years It was proposed by the House of Lords that a maximum number of and showed interest in many of our initiatives and methods, particpatients per nurse should be mandated across the UK. ularly the establishment of nurse-to-patient ratios. CNA/NNU staff UNISON is Britain���s largest public-sector union with more than have visited Korea to educate KHMU members on their ratios fight, 1.3 million members. At its 2011 conference, a representative from and Korean nurses have also attended NNU conventions to talk the New South Wales Nurses Association in Australia described the impact of their successful campaign to introduce legally enforceable, about their own fight to establish ratios. In 2012, Korean nurses successfully pushed for a ratios bill that nurse-to-patient ratios. UK nurses were energized after hearing how was introduced into the Korean Legislature by 20 lawmakers, mostRNs had led the fight and how successful ratios were in Australia. ly members of the United Progressive Party (which was formerly the UNISON decided to hold a one-day survey to take a snapshot of Labor Party).��It will be reviewed by various committees this year but what the ratios actually were in the UK. On March 6, 2012, RNs is not likely to pass due to the government���s focus on South Korea���s across the country documented their workloads. November presidential election.��The ratios bill will be reintroduced The results of this survey were not a surprise. UNISON members next spring and if a ���liberal��� presidential candidate wins, it is likely reported that they were unable to care for patients in the way they felt to pass and be signed into law.�� they should have, and many felt unable to give safe, dignified compasThe Korean ratios would not only be for registered nurses but sionate care. This was the case even though the majority of members would also ensure that the following healthcare professions have reported working more than their contractual hours on that day, a mandated ratios: certified nursing assistants, radiology technicians, practice they said was normal. Ninety percent of the respondents to laboratory technicians, physical and occupational therapists, pharthe survey were in favor of legislation to set minimum nurse-tomacists, nutritionists, and dietary workers. ���Gerard Brogan, RN patient ratios.

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