Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) research has highlighted the importance of seniority and experience when nursing teams are short staffed.

Unsurprisingly, the research found short-staffed teams delivered poorer patient outcomes. Patients treated by a team missing a registered nurse (with university degree-equivalent training), for example, were more likely to die in hospital and more likely to be transferred to an intensive care ward. There were no such effects on mortality when other, less-highly-qualified, nursing staff (like healthcare assistants) were missing.  

The effects on patient mortality were bigger when a more senior or experienced nurse was absent, indicating the importance of retaining existing staff as well as recruiting new ones.  

The largest impacts were on patients diagnosed with sepsis, a condition where early detection is important for survival and where nurses have a central role in patient monitoring and assessment.  

Carol Propper, Professor of Economics at Imperial College Business School and research fellow at the IFS, said: ‘Studies have demonstrated that when nursing teams are understaffed, the quality of patient care suffers. Our research shows that it matters enormously who is missing from the team. The absence of the most senior and experienced nurses has the largest impact on patient care and finding ways to retain these staff should therefore be a key policy objective. 

‘Our research also shows that patients with sepsis – a condition which can develop suddenly and where early detection is vital – are most affected. This points to the crucial role nurses play in monitoring and assessing patients under their care and to the potential benefits of protocols and training aimed at improving the ability of the broader nursing team to detect patient deterioration at an early stage.'