Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there is a legal limit on the ratio of nurses to patients on wards in NHS hospitals in England; and if so, what are those limits.
The National Health Service does not have a legal ratio of nurses to patients.
Appropriate staffing levels are the responsibility of commissioners and trusts. The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 include a requirement for the deployment of sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced persons at all times.