FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon set out plans yesterday to make minimum safe staffing levels in NHS hospitals a legal requirement in Scotland.

Ahead of a speech today at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) congress in Glasgow, Ms Sturgeon said: “Scotland has led Britain in the development of mandatory nursing and midwifery workload” and praised “workforce planning tools that help health boards plan for the number of staff they require.”

She promised to “enshrine these planning tools in law and examine what other areas of the workforce would benefit from having similar tools developed, which will further strengthen our commitment to patient safety in our wards.”