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Jane Cummings, Chief Nursing Officer, England: "Staffing numbers alone is not enough"
Hospitals in England are to be made to publish monthly details of whether they have enough nurses on their wards.
From April, patients will be able to see the numbers on a new national safety website.
There will be no national minimum staffing standard, but it is likely to include recommended nurse to patient ratios for different types of ward.
It is part of the government's response to the public inquiry into the Stafford Hospital scandal.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is due to address MPs on the issue later.
The move has been called for by nurse leaders and MPs in recent months.
Intense debateThe neglect and abuse at Stafford Hospital between 2005 and 2008, which led to the unnecessary deaths has already been well documented.
But the £13m Francis Inquiry, published at the start of February, also revealed wider cultural problems in the NHS.
It accused the NHS of putting corporate self-interest ahead of patients and concluded that the failings went from the top to the bottom of the system.
In total 290 recommendations were put forward and Mr Hunt is expected to say most of them have been accepted.
End Quote Jane Cummings Chief Nursing OfficerPatients and the public are therefore entitled to know that we have the right number of people in place to provide safe, quality care every time"
It has already become clear steps such as creating an offence of wilful neglect to cover nurses and doctors and tougher standards for healthcare workers will be introduced.
Mr Hunt is also expected to say that nurses and doctors will have a professional duty to report "near misses" - when patients have been put at risk. At present they only have a duty to report failures and mistakes.
But it is the move to get trusts to be open over staffing levels that is attracting the most intense debate.
It is something the Francis Inquiry said should be looked at and that the Safe Staffing Alliance, which includes organisations such as the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), and Health Select Committee have called for to be introduced.
The government has already asked the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the official advisory body for the health service, to look at how safe staffing should be measured.
Evidence suggests different levels of staffing are needed for different wards.
A new website - expected to be run by NHS England or the Care Quality Commission - is likely to give details on numbers of staff and whether they breach recommended levels.
It will be up and running by April and include data on staffing levels on each ward, each day. It will be updated monthly.
It is also expected to include information on other indicators, such as death rates and complaints, although these are already publicly available.
'Open and honest'Chief Nursing Officer Jane Cummings said: "We have very clear evidence of a link between appropriate staffing and the outcomes of our patients. Patients and the public are therefore entitled to know that we have the right number of people in place to provide safe, quality care every time."
Health Minister Norman Lamb added safety was about "being open and honest".
"We are determined to see the NHS become a world leader in patient safety - with a safety ethos and level of transparency that matches the airline industry," he said.
RCN general secretary Peter Carter said: "Greater transparency on staffing levels on every ward will encourage trusts to examine and assess whether they have a safe level of staff."
But he added: "It is also important that trusts are able to take action if their staffing levels fall below this number."
Official figures show about 3,000 nursing posts have been lost in recent years.
Labour's shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: "Too many hospitals in England do not have safe staffing levels.
"We have repeatedly warned the government about nurse numbers falling to dangerous levels. This new focus on recruitment is overdue but it shouldn't have taken this long and it won't be enough to repair the damage of three years of falling nurse numbers on David Cameron's watch."
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