Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the NICE guidelines on safe staffing for nursing in A&E departments, published on 16 January 2015, what assessment (a) the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, (b) Health Education England and (c) his Department has made of the (i) performance of A&E departments in meeting these ratios and (ii) number of full-time equivalent nurses required to meet the ratios across the NHS.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recently consulted stakeholders on its draft guidance on safe nurse staffing in accident and emergency departments and has not yet published its final guidance. The Department has made no assessment of current performance against the ratios set out in NICE’s draft guidance.