A recent study conducted across nine European countries, has found that nursing cutbacks are directly linked to higher death rates among patients in hospitals.

The study, which combined data from 300 European hospitals, says that for each additional patient assigned to a nurse, the risk of death within a month of surgery, increases by 7%. It does not get any better when poorly qualified nurses are employed, a stark contrast to the times when nurses had university degrees.

The study, published in the Lancet journal, showed that in English hospitals one nurse looked after nine patients on average. However, in other countries, this ratio was much smaller. Norway had a patient-to-nurse ratio of 5.2 while Ireland had 6.9, Netherlands 7 and Sweden 7.6.

On the high end of the spectrum, Spain had the most overworked staff, with an average of 12.7 patients per nurse. However, their nurses were way more qualified as each one of them had a bachelor degree, compared to only 28% in England. But since September 2013, every newly qualified nurse in the UK has had to attain a university degree.

Professor Linda Aiken, from the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, who led the research, said: “Our findings emphasize the risk to patients that could emerge in response to nurse staffing cuts under recent austerity measures, and suggest that an increased emphasis on bachelor’s education for nurses could reduce hospital deaths.”

The European findings closely mirrored similar trends seen in the US, said the researchers.

Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said, “It is worrisome to see that researchers found the mean ratio of patients to nurses in England to be above eight, as we know that this can compromise patient safety.”

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said the government would not introduce a legal minimum because staff requirements were a “different number for different wards”.

He said forcing hospitals to publish monthly data on ward staffing would be a “huge step” forward.