We support a living wage for health workers and a mandatory minimum staffing ratio of one nurse to every four patients.
One chapter of the report, written by experts in geriatric medicine, calls explicitly for "some minimum staffing ratio to protect nursing home residents".
Faced with the ever increasing pressure for hospitals to control costs while improving patient safety and quality, a shift-based minimum staffing ratio is imperative.
This finding is important because it speaks to the validity of the California minimum staffing ratio for paediatric care, but we emphasise that our results are preliminary and should be tested in further studies.
In 1999, California became the first state to pass a law requiring minimum staffing ratios for hospital nurses.
Suzanne M. Weiss, senior vice president of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, said, "We oppose minimum staffing ratios" because they do not take account of the fact that some patients are sicker and more disabled than others.
The American Health Care Association, a trade group for the industry, said it could not support "minimum staffing ratios" unless the government agreed to help pay the additional cost, which could total several billion dollars a year.
"We believe arbitrary national minimum staffing ratios would limit how hospitals could plan resources in a way that's best for their patients".
He also resisted calls for set minimum staffing ratios, but said trusts should be keeping a close eye on staffing levels to make sure patient care was not suffering.
On the other hand, the new regulatory framework intended for implementation in 2008 (Ministry of Education, 2007b) has attempted to keep the costs down with little shift in the minimum staffing ratios.
