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- adult inpatient wards in acute hospitals (updated 2023 – all previous versions of the tool are no longer valid)
- adult acute assessment units (updated 2023 – all previous versions of the tool are no longer valid)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.