What are good staffing ratios in care homes?

If you want to provide the highest quality of care, all while ensuring the safety, wellbeing, and dignity of service users in your care home, then staffing ratios are a critical factor that you have to consider.

There is no single mandated staff-to-service user ratio for care homes in the UK, but regulatory bodies like the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in England have stated that staff levels should be “safe, effective, and responsive to people’s needs.” But what does this mean for your organisation?

Here, we’ll look at the foundation of good staffing ratios, regulatory expectations across the UK, and why ratios matter so much to service delivery. We’ll also look at practical solutions for care providers facing staffing challenges.

What do UK regulations say about staffing ratios in care homes?

As mentioned, the CQC in England doesn’t prescribe a specific ratio for staff-to-residents. However, it does evaluate appropriate staffing levels based on:

• Number of service users
• Complexity of care needs
• Time of day (as night shifts typically require fewer staff
• Care home layout
• Staffing mix

As such, care providers are expected to use tools like dependency assessments and risk-based approaches to determine ideal staffing levels. This level of flexibility helps care homes tailor staffing levels to their needs, however, it does put the onus firmly on providers to self-regulate.

Standards are similar throughout the rest of the UK, as well. Local inspectorates like the Care Inspectorate (Scotland) and the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (Northern Ireland) offer guidance on outcomes, safety, and staff adequacy rather than fixed ratios.

The importance of good staffing ratios

Staffing ratios matter for a range of reasons, including:

• They’re vital for safe care delivery, as lower staff numbers can cause care to become rushed and tasks to be missed.
• Enough staff are needed to provide personalised care, with one-to-one time with service users maintaining dignity and wellbeing.
• Staff wellbeing is a concern, as overworked staff are at great risk of burnout, higher turnover rates, and worsening morale.

Although the CQC and other regulators may not offer specific ratios, insufficient staffing is a common regulatory compliance complaint. Higher staffing levels do typically lead to better outcomes for service users and staff alike, especially in residential settings for those with dementia or high dependency needs.

Factors to consider when setting staffing levels

If you’re looking at your current staffing levels, consider the following factors and how they affect the ratio:

• ‍Service user needs: Higher levels of dependency may require more staff.
• ‍Time of day: Day shifts usually require more staff than overnight shifts.
• ‍Home size and layout: Larger and more complex buildings may need more staff to provide prompt responses.
• ‍Skill mix: A range of roles, such as registered nurses, care assistants, and support staff, may be needed to cover all requirements.

Routinely reviewing your staffing needs based on these factors is always recommended.

How to address your staffing needs

As recruitment and retention can be major challenges in the care sector, there are strategies to help better manage your needs. This can include taking more care to effectively onboard your staff and integrating them quicker. You can even rely on an onboarding checklist to make sure that your team is quickly and fully equipped for the role.

Your team needs thorough support, too, such as training, regular feedback, and emotional support to reduce burnout and improve team morale. Take the time to focus on retention by keeping your staff feeling happy and encouraged.

How technology can help with staffing ratios

Log my Care’s care management software is an example of one tool that can equip you with rostering tools, allowing managers to allocate shifts based on changing needs. You can make sure that you always have the team at hand based on skills, availability, and service user needs.

Care managers can ensure their services run as efficiently as possible with tools to build rotas quickly, reduce admin time, minimise shift allocation errors, and, most importantly, provide the level of care that service users require.

You need to understand your service users’ needs, support your staff, and choose the right tools like Log my Care to ensure the necessary levels of care and staffing ratios. Get in touch with us today to book a demo and walk through our services to see how we can help you with yours.