New NICE guidelines for Staffing Levels
Published on: 10/03/2015
NICE have released new guidelines on safe staffing levels for midwives. They recommend that women in established labour (regular, painful contractions and 4cm dilated +) should receive one to one care. It also contains guidance to management teams about how to assess the staffing needs and whether their staffing levels are adequate.
RCM chief executive Cathy Warwick said that the guidance, providing it was used wisely, should be very helpful. “This should help to ensure that maternity services have safe staffing levels that are monitored on a regular basis and adjusted according to local need. The RCM will be developing resources to assist with this.”
The NICE guidelines can be found here: