The Ministry of Health and Welfare on Friday announced nurse-to-patient ratio targets with monetary rewards for medical institutions that meet the goal, as hospitals struggle to hire and retain nursing staff.
The goals to go into effect on March 1 were set based on input from nursing unions, as well as staffing data over the past six months and discussions with representatives from medical institutions, Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) told a news conference in Taipei.
Different ratios are to be set depending on the type of institution and shift, with large medical centers targeting a ratio of 1-6 for the day shift, 1-9 for the evening shift and 1-11 for the night (graveyard) shift, the ministry said.
Photo: Wu Liang-yi, Taipei Times
Regional hospitals should aim for a ratio of 1-7 during the day, 1-11 in the evening and 1-13 at night, it said.
The ratios for local institutions are set at 1-10, 1-13 and 1-15 respectively, it added.
The scheme would also include penalties for institutions that fail to meet the goal if formally written into law, but for now the ministry is pursuing the carrot side of the carrot-and-stick approach, it said.
The announcement detailed plans set forth by the government last year to improve chronic nursing shortages.
The budget approved by the Cabinet in September included NT$18 billion (US$575.63 million) annually over the next seven years to add at least 67,000 nurses to the workforce by 2030.
The funding would go toward boosting nursing salaries with higher rewards for working late shifts, while hospitals would be rewarded for meeting certain nurse-to-patient ratios and creating a nursing-friendly working environment.
The three-shift schedule has long been a topic of debate, as it is one of the top reasons cited by nurses for leaving the industry.
Of the NT$4 billion set aside this year for the scheme, NT$2.7 billion is to go toward rewarding nurses for picking up evening and graveyard shifts, the ministry said on Friday, with bonuses to be distributed starting from this month.
Amounts would also differ depending on the size of the institution, ranging from NT$400 to NT$600 for the evening shift and NT$600 to NT$1,000 for the graveyard shift, it said.
The remaining NT$1.3 billion would be used to burnish any shortcomings in the bonuses, with the rest allocated to hospitals to boost night-shift salaries for other divisions as they see fit, it added.
The most that can be earned under the plan is an additional NT$21,000 per month, by a nurse who works only graveyard shifts for the total 21 days in a large medical center, ministry data showed.
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