Cuts to nurses on wards is "directly linked" to higher patient death rates, claims a study of 300 hospitals in England and 8 other EU nations. Every extra patient added to a nurse's workload increases the risk of death within a month of surgery by 7%
A patients' risk of death of after surgery rises by 7% if there are not enough properly trained nurses working on their ward, according to research.
The survey, published in the Lancet journal, looked at nine European countries and revealed how the extra workload created by cutbacks was also exacerbated by a lack of properly trained staff.
Nurses with university degrees had helped compensate for reduced staff numbers, but researchers found most UK nurses were juggling nine patients per day since cutbacks began.
However, researchers found a 10% increase in the proportion of nurses holding a bachelor degree was associated with 7% lower surgical death rates.
US expert Professor Linda Aiken, who led the research, said: "Our findings emphasise the risk to patients that could emerge in response to nurse staffing cuts under recent austerity measures, and suggest that an increased emphasis on bachelor's education for nurses could reduce hospital deaths."
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