Staffing levels on childrens NHS wards

[loflo]

Does anyone know what staff to patient ratios should be for a childrens ward?

Thanks

Probably depends on the age of children on the ward.

In our local hospital it is possible for teenagers ( adolescents ) to be on Adult wards with elderly patients.

How old is your little one?

Hi Lucinda - he is 6. Had a bad experience earlier in the year and as more information comes to light it would appear that a 13 bed childrens ward only had 2 (yes 2) qualified nurses on duty . To be fair don't think all the beds were full initially but at one point there were at least 10 children on the ward. Can't believe that can be safe/legal/appropriate? Oh and no consultant in sight either.....

That's about right for an adult ward - 2 nurses to 13 patients. Don't know about children though.

Thanks for that Jiggery. Was an acute receiving ward but not sure if that makes any difference?

What I would do is submit a comments or complaints form. Query the staff levels.

If you are in England they have PALS advisers

If it is a big hospital phone up and ask to speak to PALS and ask for their help and advice.

Hi Lucinda - we are in Scotland and have already made a formal complaint. But as we get more detail I am getting more . Thanks for your help.

[[http://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/78551/001934.pdf Setting safe
nurse staffing
levels: An exploration of the issues, 2003]] by Cherill Scott, Research Fellow of the RCN says:

Appendix 1

"The Department of Health standards (DH 1996) are
that:
✦ there are at least two Registered Sick Children?s
Nurses (RSCN) or Registered Children?s Nurses
(RCNs - who have completed the child branch of
Project 2000) on duty 24 hours a day in all hospital
children?s departments and wards;
✦ there is an RSCN or RCN available 24 hours a day
to advise on the nursing of children in other
departments, e.g. the intensive care unit, the A&E
department, outpatients." Appendix 1 pg 36.

Thanks Lougle - there were certainly not any paediatric nurses in the A&E dept. And I am not convinced that the two nurses on duty in the ward were paediatric staff.

There don't have to be any paediatric nurses in the A&E department, as long as an RSCN is available to advise on the nursing of children in A&E.

from my experiance thats normal levels infact pretty high

Many adult medical wards in the NHS are staffing 30+ bed units with 2 RNs and a ward assistant for a 12 hour shift.

75% of our patients on those wards have some sort of disorientation. They might have dementia. They might be delerious with sepsis. They might be alcohol detoxers who are not only disorientated but climbing the walls. They might have renal or liver problems making them confused. Patients who are hypoxic become disorientated. And in addition to that we have acutely ill patients who require constant monitoring.

I recently reported my hospital over this stuff. The managers had the gall to state that any bad care was down to the ward Nurses not keeping up on the audits and paperwork.

2 Nurses to 13 is actually quite good in the NHS right now. Most trusts have recruitment freezes on for Nurses.

But officially anything more than one RN to 4-6 patients is unsafe. Mortality rates start increasing dramatically for each additional patient an RN is forced to take on above 6.

Don't know what the law is, but during dd's recent admission to the neuro ward it was 2 nurses to 8 children at the busiest point.

Children's wards are still in a much better state than the adult general medical wards.

But I don't expect that to last for long. If any of you are interested in what is going on with nurse staffing in the NHS this might be worth a look.

militantmedicalnurse.blogspot.com/

IME normal levels exceed those actually required but it does depend on the no's of beds occupied & the needs of the patients

Consultant paeds often not visable on the wards although will be on call, but also depends on the hospital set up but likely to be covering NICU, & AE paed admissions tc.