Safer Nursing Care Tool

The Shelford Group chief nurses’ sub group has led the development of innovative and evidence based decision support tools for setting clinical staffing establishments, known as the Safer Nursing Care Tools (SNCT) and the Mental Health Optimal Staffing Tool (MHOST).

About the Safer Care Nursing Tool

To find out more about the SNCT and MHOST, please contact info@shelfordgroup.org

Licensing enquiries should be directed via nhsinfo@imperial.ac.uk or to apply for a license please go to the following website https://www.innovahealthtec.com/

The Safer Nursing Care Tools (SNCT) and the Mental Health Optimal Staffing Tool (MHOST) calculate clinical staffing requirements based on patients’ needs (acuity and dependency) which, together with professional judgement, guides chief nurses in their safe staffing decisions. The tools:

  • Provide organisational level metrics to monitor impact on the quality of patient care and outcomes 
  • Give a defined measure of patient acuity and dependency 
  • Are able to support benchmarking activity in organisations when used across trusts 
  • Embrace all the principles that should be considered when evaluating decision support tools set out in the relevant NHSE/I ‘Safe, sustainable and productive staffing’ resources 
  • Include staffing multipliers to support professional judgement 
  • Provide accurate data collection methodology. 

A Professional Judgement Framework has been developed to support chief nurses in applying judgement in nurse staffing reviews and is available here.

A training webinar outlining changes to the 2023 version of the Adult Inpatient Wards in Acute Hospitals and Adult Acute Assessment Unit tools can be viewed here. The webinar is led by Ann Casey, Deputy Director of the CNO Safer Staffing Faculty at NHS England.

NHS trusts in England are using licensed SNCT and/or MHOST

Licenses for SNCT and MHOST have been purchased by private and overseas providers

NHSE/I supported the development of these staffing tools which are now used widely across NHS organisations in England, private health providers and overseas healthcare organisations. In 2019 NHS Improvement, in collaboration with the Shelford Group Chief Nurses launched the Chief Nursing Officer Safer Staffing Fellowship Programme to develop nurse leaders in safer staffing, learn more here.  

 

The licensing process is managed by Imperial College London on behalf of the Shelford Group and is free of charge to NHS organisations in England. Licensing enquiries should be directed via nhsinfo@imperial.ac.uk or to apply for a license please go to the following website https://www.innovahealthtec.com/. From July 2024, all license requests from NHS trusts in England will require formal sign off by the organisation’s Chief Nurse.

Available tools

Click on the links for more information and to obtain licences for the tools.

A digital version of the decision-making matrix for Adult Inpatient Wards in Acute Hospitals and Adult Acute Assessment Units is now available for NHS license holders in England. To request access please contact nhsinfo@imperial.ac.uk.

 

“Having the right nurse staffing levels is fundamental to providing safe and high-quality patient care, as well as creating a positive work practice environment for staff. The Safer Nursing Care Tools (SNCT) and the Mental Health Optimal Staffing Tool (MHOST) underpin the way in which NHS trusts plan their nursing workforce needs.

Working with NHS colleagues from across the country, we continue to regularly review and update these tools to ensure they reflect the changing needs of our patients.”

Professor Chris Morley

Chair of the SNCT Committee and Chief Nurse, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

“Safe and effective staffing remains high on my agenda and it is crucial that senior nurses have the tools and support they need to plan, calculate and deliver staffing requirements. The Safer Nursing Care Tools are an important resource to ensure evidence-based approaches to staffing decisions to help improve outcomes for patients.” 

Ruth May

NHS Chief Nursing Officer for England