Nurse-to-patient and midwife-to-patient ratios

The Queensland Government has recently passed the Hospital and Health Boards (Safe Nurse-to-Patient and Midwife-to-Patient Ratios) Amendment Act 2015 (Qld) which legislatively mandates minimum nursing and midwifery staff ratios. Though there is both national and international research which demonstrates the impact of nursing and midwifery workloads and skill mix on the quality of patient care and patient outcomes, there has been little legislative response to address the issue. Queensland is the second State, after Victoria, to mandate minimum nursing and midwifery ratios as a mechanism to address the delivery of safe high-quality patient care.