56.In these Explanatory Notes, the terms set out in the left-hand column of the table below have the meanings attributed to them in the right-hand column of the table.
| Term | Description |
|---|---|
| dependency | The amount of care a patient needs. |
| designated person | A person or description of a person who, for the purposes of the Act, may be designated to calculate the number of nurses appropriate to provide care to patients that meets all reasonable requirements in that situation. |
| nurse-sensitive indicator | An indicator which reflects the extent to which patients’ well-being is known to be particularly sensitive to the provision of care by a nurse. |
| nurse staffing level | This is the description given by the Act for the number of nurses appropriate to provide care to patients, that meets all reasonable requirements in that situation. |
| nurse | Means a registered nurse. In accordance with section 5 and Schedule 1 of the Interpretation Act 1978(2) registered nurse means a nurse registered in the register maintained under article 5 of the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001(3) by virtue of qualifications in nursing or midwifery as the case may be. |
| triangulated approach | A technique for calculating the number of nurses that are to be deployed in a care setting which uses professional judgement, data from a relevant acuity tool, and the levels of nurse-sensitive indicators. |