Nursing Safe Staffing Review and Report on the Review of the Care Capacity Demand Management (CCDM) Programme

Summary

This Nursing Safe Staffing Review and Report on the Review of the Care Capacity Demand Management (CCDM) Programme reviews the implementation, effectiveness and impact of the CCDM Programme.

The CCDM programme is a set of tools and processes that match staff resources to patient demand to provide safe care, make optimal use of resources and provide a better working environment for health workers.

The programme was developed following the Safe Staffing Healthy Workplaces Committee of Inquiry Report (2006), through a partnership between the New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation (NZNO) and DHBs.

Following the Safe Staffing Accord agreement in 2018, all DHBs were required to implement CCDM across nursing in public hospitals by 30 June 2021. However, some DHBs were unable to fully implement the programme by this deadline.

The review was led by the Nursing Advisory Group (NAG), which was appointed by the Minister of Health as an independent group of subject matter experts in 2021. The NAG members, Hilary Graham-Smith (Chair), Dr Jill Clendon, Dr Rhonda McKelvie and Kapua Quinn received project management support from the Ministry of Health and secretariat support from KPMG.

Qualitative data from interviews, focus groups and site visits and quantitative data from the Core Data Set was analysed. A total of 3,992 participants responded to an online national survey targeting frontline nurses and those who operate the programme.

The Report confirms that CCDM has the potential to be an appropriate staffing management tool for nursing in acute hospitals including emergency departments and mental health services. It recommends retaining CCDM and redesigning it to be fit for purpose.

The Report makes eight key recommendations which will need to be supported by a range of short and long-term interventions to achieve meaningful change.