Staffing in Maternity Units

This report was commissioned by The King's Fund to answer a fundamental question: Can the safety of maternity services be improved by more effectively deploying existing staffi ng resources? There is much debate at present about staffing levels in maternity. The independent inquiry into the safety of maternity services commissioned by The King's Fund suggested that, while staffing levels are important, employing more staff may not necessarily improve safety. The inquiry found that the effective deployment of the right staff doing the right thing at the right time in the right place is the key to improvement (The King's Fund 2008, p 48). Current financial pressures mean that it is unrealistic to expect significant increases in numbers of staff. As such, maternity services - and the National Health Service (NHS) as a whole - will need to focus on developing new ways of working in order to maintain, and increase, levels of safety and quality within the resources available