In response to recent media coverage of NHS Improvement (NHSI) chief executive Jim Mackey’s interview with the Health Service Journal, Saffron Cordery, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers commented:

“It is important to reinforce that no NHS trust or FT board believes that patient safety should be sacrificed or harmed in the pursuit of financial savings. The lessons from Mid Staffs and the primary duty to patient safety are at the core of every provider’s mind. We are reassured that the NHS Improvement resource published last week had the endorsement of Sir Robert Francis QC.

“The updated approach by NHSI on safe and sustainable staffing is a considered response to feedback from the frontline – the leadership of NHS trusts and foundation trusts and the Royal Colleges. The new resource is about getting the right staff in place to deliver the best possible care. Boards and medical and nursing directors need that flexibility to determining what staffing to deploy to deliver high quality care.

“The financial challenges we face, and the drive to make substantial efficiencies, mean that we must move away from the previous approach where action and responses by regulators meant that providers were compelled to hire staff at short notice and high cost. It is time for a new approach that supports providers to build teams with the right skill mix to work together on an on-going basis.

“This isn’t a numbers game. It is about finding the right balance between delivering safe high quality care and meeting the financial and operational challenges ahead so that we can safeguard services for the future.

“We welcome the fact that NHSI has committed to working closely with providers over the coming months to better understand the reasons for why in some cases large increase in the staff paybill may be entirely right to meet patient needs.

“Clearly everyone in the system: providers, the national bodies (NHSI, NHS England and the CQC), Royal Colleges must continue to have the conversations about how to meet demand. Many of the NHS’s financial and operational challenges are a result of not having enough staff to meet the current levels of patient need we are seeing.”