A new Europe-wide study says reducing nurse staffing numbers has a major impact on patient outcomes.
The figures show that there's a 7 per cent rise in deaths for every patient added to the patient-to-nurse ratio.
A team from Dublin City University contributed to the research, which is published today in The Lancet medical journal.
The study of almost half a million patients across 9 EU countries, including Ireland, found that every patient added to the patient-to-nurse ratio leads to a 7 per cent increase in deaths after surgery.
And for every 10 percent jump in nurses with bachelor's degrees - there's a 7 per cent drop in deaths.
Professor Anne Scott of DCU - which participated in the study - says the results suggest that assuming you can cut nurse numbers to save money without affecting patient care is "misguided at best - and fatal at worst".
Over 4-thousand-200 nurses have left the Health Service since 2009.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation says it's publish its own survey in the coming weeks - which shows that no Irish hospital wards have nurses looking after fewer than six patients - with that number doubling on night duty.
