A key safety measure designed to prevent a repeat of a notorious hospital scandal has been quietly dropped, it has emerged.
The Government was accused of “muddying the waters” after a live online tool showing how many nurses were on duty at any one time was altered.
The NHS Choices website was changed to include healthcare assistants, many of whom have minimal training, as well as fully qualified nurses – meaning it is now impossible to see if a ward is safely staffed.
The tool was introduced by then-Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt in the wake of the Mid Staffs scandal, in which hundreds of patients died from neglect.
Some drank water out of flower vases and went to the toilet in their beds because of the lack of staff at Stafford Hospital.
Transgender woman left with PTSD after hormone therapy 'nearly killed her'
Mr Hunt pledged it would never happen again and promised transparency on staffing numbers.
But the change to the website has sparked accusations that the Government is abandoning safety.
Sir David Dalton, former chief executive of Salford Royal, which is widely regarded as the NHS’s safest hospital, said it sent out “the wrong signal”.
Julie Bailey, who exposed the Mid Staffs scandal after her mum died, said: “This is reversing what was put in place to ensure that wards were safely staffed.”
Jenny Hunt, a visiting professor of nursing at Anglia Ruskin University, said: “Clearly, the lessons have been forgotten.
“We are seeing nurse numbers falling and struggle to staff wards, and now we have the NHS muddying the waters and failing to be transparent.”
The Health Department said it was “committed to transparency” on staffing levels and patient safety.
But ex-Chief Nurse Susan Osborne said figures published by the Government on staff numbers were “a sham”.
