1,000 signatures reached
To: RT HON JEREMY HUNT. SECRETARY OF STATE FOR HEALTH
NHS SAFE STAFFING = SAFE PATIENTS
Make sure that there are always safe numbers of doctors and nurses on NHS wards. I’m worried that affordability is being put before saving lives. Safe staffing levels in hospitals should always be based on evidence and patient need, not on the need to cut costs.
Why is this important?
On 4th June NHS England asked the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
(NICE) to suspend its programme on safe staffing in the NHS. The capacity for independent review of researched evidence on safe staffing, provided by NICE and called for by Sir Robert Francis in his Mid Staffs report, has been discarded.
We need you to sign this petition today!
REVERSE THE DECISION RT HON JEREMY HUNT! AFTER THE GREAT WORK THAT JEREMY HUNT HAS CHAMPIONED FOR PATIENT SAFETY IN THE NHS, MANY ARE SHOCKED AND SURPRISED AT THIS DEVELOPMENT.
Sir Robert Francis QC who led the Public Inquiry into the Disaster at Mid Staffs has spoken out in concern by releasing a press statement and said, “While there is nothing wrong, and indeed everything to be said, for NHS England reviewing staffing levels, I specifically recommended the work which NICE has been undertaking for a reason, namely, they have an evidence-based and analytical approach.
NICE also has an advantage not enjoyed by NHS England of being independent. It is important to establish practical guidance, based on the needs of patients, which will enable providers, commissioners and service users alike to understand whether a particular service is safely staffed.”
Julie Bailey founder of ‘Cure the NHS’ says: “It is critical that this work is done independently. We cannot allow this important work to be sabotaged. We have all waited too long for this already. Our fear is that the guidance will be based on cost and not evidence, anymore. Removing NICE from this critical work in our opinion is a step backwards for patient and staff safety.”
This is about making sure patients are safe in our A&E departments. It’s about making sure that vulnerable people receive safe care when treated at home or are discharged from hospital into our communities.
For years Julie Bailey CBE and the group she formed with the Mid Staffs families’ Cure the NHS’ campaigned for Safe Staffing levels on our NHS wards and eventually won the fight for a Public Inquiry. The result was the Francis report which exposed the deaths and suffering of hundreds of people. The report produced a massive 290 recommendations, which changed the landscape of our NHS for the better, to keep ourselves and our families safe.
Julie’s mum died because the NHS centrally driven target approach put finances before safe care. She worked tirelessly for the rights of
patients to receive safe care, losing her home and her café business in the process.
Again Julie is fighting this campaign to make sure the NHS has enough staff to make care safe. Please sign the petition.
