Ms Sarah Penney, School of Nursing and paramedic science, Institute of Nursing and Health Research, Ulster University.
This presentation aims to inform Assembly deliberations concerning the forthcoming Safe and Effective Staffing Bill. It highlights practical, evidence-informed considerations about the Bill, including: how “safe and effective staffing” could be understood in complex care home
environments; what conditions enable staffing requirements to improve care outcomes; and, how leadership capability and workforce culture interact with statutory staffing duties.
It draws on findings from two academic studies:
- A large quantitative study across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, involving 300 participants which aligns with a wider body of published evidence demonstrating positive impacts on leadership, staff well-being and care quality. The research demonstrated statistically significant improvements in leadership capability, staff morale, workload manageability, time spent with residents, and perceived adequacy of staffing for workload.
- A recent qualitative study conducted in Northern Ireland (under review), exploring the experiences of 56 care home leaders who participated in the My Home Life Leadership Support Programme. Participants described how leadership development leads to improved emotional regulation, reflective practice and relational leadership behaviours. These changes were consistently linked to enhanced staff morale, improved teamwork, reduced sickness absence, stronger retention and observable improvements in care delivery, including reduced falls and more positive regulatory feedback. It is supported by the Department of Health.
The presentation explains that while the Safe and Effective Staffing Bill rightly seeks to address workforce safety and risk, findings arising from the research about long-term care suggests staffing effectiveness is shaped not only by numbers and skill mix, but also by leadership behaviours, workplace culture and staff empowerment. Taking together, the evidence indicates leadership development and workplace culture play a critical role in enabling staff to work safely and effectively within existing staffing resources.
Relying on the research, the presentation explores relational, evidence-informed approaches such as My Home Life. It explains how they can support safe staffing by enabling leaders to retain staff, reduce burnout and foster environments where staff are confident to work at the top of their role. It also considers leadership behaviours influencing staff decision-making, communication and responsiveness to residents’ needs. Highlighting the centrality of all such factors to safety, the research indicates they are not easily captured through staffing ratios alone.
Importantly, the presentation also looks at potential unintended consequences of a narrow focus on staffing numbers within legislation. The research observed those to include increased administrative burden, reduced professional autonomy and difficulties in sustaining compliance in an already pressured sector. And drawing on the evidence from My Home Life,the presentation considers how those risks could be mitigated through policy and legislation that recognises the integral nature of leadership development, workforce well-being and organisational culture to staffing effectiveness.
This seminar took place on 10 June 2026.
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Policy Briefing
Presentation