Campaigners to march on Department of Health over calls for safe NHS staffing levels

The move follows a decision to end research into safe staffing ratios

The NHS employs more than 1.3 million staff and runs up to 500 hospitals (Getty Images)

Patient safety campaigners will march on the Department of Health this week to call for safe staffing levels on NHS wards.

The demonstration follows a decision to end key research at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) into safe staffing ratios that the NHS could use.

Campaigners, led by Julie Bailey, who helped expose the Mid Staffordshire care scandal, will deliver a letter to the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Thursday, calling on him to reverse the decision.

Nursing leaders and patient safety experts have expressed concern that the research, which will be taken on by NHS England, will now be “based on cost” and not evidence of what is safest.

The protest is a blow to Mr Hunt, who has gained a reputation as a staunch advocate of patient safety issues.

Cure the NHS, the campaign group founded by Ms Bailey, said in a statement: “Jeremy Hunt has been at the forefront of promoting patient safety. But this recent announcement appears to be a backward step and goes against all he has promoted.”