Nurse to patient ratios
Safe Patient Care Act 2015
The Safe Patient Care (Nurse to Patient and Midwife to Patient Ratios) Act 2015 took effect from 23 December 2015. It delivered on the Government’s commitment to enshrine in law minimum numbers of nurses and midwives to care for patients.
Changes to the Safe Patient Care (Nurse to Patient and Midwife to Patient Ratios) Regulations 2015 commenced on 6 March 2019. The changes included Improvements to existing ratios, the creation of new ratios in a range of clinical settings and the introduction of other operational enhancements in the Act.
The Victorian government has committed to funding these changes at Alfred Health.
Find out more about the Safe Patient Care Act at health.vic:
Mixed ward nurse to patient ratios
The table below shows the number of nurses that are in a mixed ward. A mixed ward has two different nurse to patient ratios. This information will inform our patients how many nurses they can expect to be in a mixed ward.
At The Alfred, the only mixed ward is ward 3 East, which cares for general medicine and CCU (Coronary Care Unit) patients.
| Ward name | 3 East |
|---|---|
| Total number of occupied beds | 28 (12 CCU and 16 Medical) |
| Shift | CCU Beds | Medical Beds | CCU: Nurse Ratio | Medical: Nurse Ratio | Mixed Ratio | Total Staff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AM | 12 | 16 | 1:2 + 1 I/C | 1:4 | 1:2.8 | 11 |
| PM | 12 | 16 | 1:2 + 1 I/C | 1:4 | 1:2.8 | 11 |
| ND | 12 | 16 | 1:3 + 1 I/C | 1:8 | 1:4.7 | 7 |
| Effective as of 1 August 2024 | ||||||