Nurses ‘spending 88 days a year on admin’

DISTRICT nurses spend more time on administrative work than with patients, the head of the NHS said yesterday.

The average community health worker now spends just 87 days a year in direct contact with patients compared to 88 days on paperwork, a report found.

Simon Stevens told the NHS Providers conference in Manchester that the ‘hugely frustrating’ situation was one of many issues that needed dealing with in the long-term plan for the health service. He warned that the £20billion-ayear boost for the NHS must not be squandered, saying that it would be ‘looked on with some jealousy’ by teachers or the police.

He added: ‘The rest of the country is looking to the NHS to ensure this money is invested very wisely.

‘We’ve got to rethink much more fundamentally many aspects of how care is being delivered and how our teams of frontline staff work.’ When asked about whether the NHS was prepared for a No Deal Brexit, Mr Stevens said it was in a better position than it had been previously.

He said discussions were ongoing about the medicines supply chain and equipment. But NHS employers can now give a ‘watertight guarantee’ that their staff can remain in their posts after Britain leaves the European Union.

Mr Stevens said: ‘We want to embrace them in this country.’