Safer nursing care tool

The Safer nursing care tool (SNCT) is a NICE-endorsed evidence-based tool currently used in the NHS.

The SNCT suite includes tools for the following settings:

  • adult inpatient wards in acute hospitals (updated 2023 – all previous versions of the tool are no longer valid)
  • adult acute assessment units (updated 2023 – all previous versions of the tool are no longer valid)
  • children and young people’s inpatient wards in acute hospitals
  • mental health inpatient wards
  • emergency departments.

Primarily used by the nursing workforce, the development of these tools has been led by a core group of experienced professional leaders and leading academics.

These tools support chief nurses to determine optimal nurse staffing levels helping NHS hospital staff measure patient acuity and/or dependency to inform evidence-based decision making on staffing and workforce. The tools can also support organisations to deliver evidence-based workforce plans to support existing services or to develop new services.

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