01.12.12
Technology for efficiency
Source: National Health Executive Nov/Dec 2012
A £140m fund has been announced to let hospitals buy technology to help nurses cut bureaucracy and boost efficiency. Kate Ashley reports.
Time spent on administrative tasks such as form-filling and checking patient information can significantly restrict nurses’ ability to spend quality time caring for patients. A new fund aims to facilitate greater efficiencies by utilising the latest technology, allowing staff to reduce this bureaucratic burden and take their work mobile.
On October 8, Prime Minister David Cameron and health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced a £140m fund to promote the use of time-saving equipment and make patient information instantly available to nurses and midwives, wherever they are working.
The investment was announced ahead of the Conservative Party Conference, during a visit to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. The scheme aims to cut the time spent on form-filling and management processes like rotas, allowing nurses and midwives to spend more time with patients.
£100m will go directly towards new technology. This could include digital pens and other handheld mobile devices, which transmit information to different locations, including in hospital and out in the community.
Score and save
The money will be available to NHS organisations via a loan system, which they will only be required to pay back in part. The innovative element of the fund is that high performing hospitals – those that score well on the Friends and Family test – will not have to pay any of the funding back.
The Friends and Family test asks patients to rate hospitals on whether they would recommend the services to their friends and family, and the feedback is seen to be more reliable than traditional assessments.
The other £40m will be used to provide extra leadership training for up to 1,000 nurses and midwives this year, with this number rising to 10,000 over the next two years. The training will also be available for nurses and midwives working in the care sector.
A barrage of bureaucracy
Cameron said: “Too often nurses have been met with a barrage of bureaucracy – the boxes have been ticked and the quotas have been met.
“My mission with the NHS is to change that. We need to focus relentlessly on improving the care people get, and we’re taking some big, practical steps to achieve that.
“We’re introducing one of the most simple tests that any caring organisation can have. We’re asking staff and patients if they would be happy to recommend the hospital they’re in to their friends and family. It’s called the Friends and Family test, and the results show in a very human way how a hospital is performing: not just how their budget’s looking; but how people feel about being there.”
Hunt added: “Most nurses and midwives chose their profession because they wanted to spend time caring for patients, not filling out paperwork. New technology can make that happen. That’s better for nurses and patients too, who will get swifter information and more face-to-face time with NHS staff.
“The importance of these issues was laid bare by doctors’ and nursing leaders earlier this week. The Government’s role is to listen to the NHS and support these leaders – that’s what we’re doing today.”
Royal College of Nursing chief executive and general secretary Peter Carter welcomed the funding for leadership training, which will be distributed via the NHS Leadership Academy.
He said: “The RCN is fully supportive of this initiative. From ward sisters and community matrons to directors of nursing, we know that effective leadership can make a big difference to patient care.
“However, there has been a lack of investment in leadership training in recent times and we therefore welcome this programme by the NHS Leadership Academy. We look forward to seeing further details and working with the academy to take this project forward.”
(Image: Conservative Party / Andrew Parsons.)