Nurses ‘prevented from caring for patients by a sea of paperwork’

A poll of 6,000 nurses across the UK found they spend an average of 17.3 per cent of their time on non-essential paperwork and clerical tasks such as filing, photocopying and ordering supplies.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which released the figures ahead of its annual congress in Liverpool, said nurses, who work for a combined 14.3 million hours a week, are being prevented from caring for patients.

Over 80 per cent of nurses said having to complete non-essential paperwork was preventing them from providing care.

Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the RCN said: “These figures prove what a shocking amount of a nurse’s time is being wasted on unnecessary paperwork and bureaucracy.

“Yes, some paperwork is essential and nurses will continue to do this, but patients want their nurses by their bedside, not ticking boxes.

“We are encouraged that the Government has acknowledged this issue, and the ongoing review by the NHS Confederation is a step in the right direction, but urgent action is needed now.”

In February, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced he had commissioned the NHS Confederation to work with bodies to see how paperwork could be reduced.

But almost nine in 10 of the 6,000 nurses surveyed said the amount of non-essential paperwork had increased in the last two years.

Labour’s Shadow Health Minister Andrew Gwynne said: “David Cameron is cutting the NHS front line and wasting billions on a chaotic reorganisation, leaving hospitals to operate without enough staff.

“Now form-filling is taking nurses away from their patients for longer and longer.

“Under this Government, close to 5,000 nursing posts have been axed, with over 800 going in the last month alone.

“On understaffed wards, a nurse’s time becomes increasingly precious – they must be free to care for patients.”

Health Minister Dr Dan Poulter said the coalition Government has significantly cut the amount of red tape in the NHS and is examining how to reduce bureaucracy further.

He said: “NHS staff need to be free to do what we were trained to do – look after patients, so patients not paperwork must be our NHS’s priority.”

Mike Farrar, NHS Confederation chief executive, said: “We fully recognise the story that the RCN’s survey tells.

“More than four out of 10 NHS clinicians, managers and board members have told us they spend between one and three hours of their working day personally collecting and recording information.

“Three-quarters told us certain information collected for regulators or for national requirements is irrelevant. It is clear we need to do more to free staff from the shackles of unnecessary form filling and create more time to spend on patient care.

We need a smarter system of information use, not a bigger one.

“We are currently undertaking a major piece of work looking at how we can cut bureaucracy by a third in the NHS. Over the coming months, we will be talking to staff, patients and national bodies about how best to tackle the problem. We will report our findings and recommendations in September.”

Dean Royles, chief executive of the NHS Employers organisation, said: “Making accurate paperwork to handover patients safely from one setting to another is an absolutely essential part of nursing. Getting it wrong can be life threatening.

“We do patients a disservice by suggesting it’s a marginal activity.

“Technology is an increasing part of the continuous professional development provided to nurses each year.

“But for too long staff who support nurses have been vilified as pen pushers and overheads, whereas the survey shows the
importance of the entire healthcare team in providing good
care.”

Comment: Page 10.