title: Safety in numbers.
abstract: An organisation with royal college status thinks long and hard before quantifying something as fundamental as safe staffing levels. This week the RCN launches its recommended skill-mix ratio for registered and non-registered staff on general wards in NHS acute trusts, a move that should be welcomed by everyone from patients to ministers. The two thirds registered, one third unregistered benchmark provides a reference point when calculating workforce demands. And there is no organisation better placed to set down this marker for nursing care than nurses' own royal college.