Survey of West Midlands nurses reveals size of paperwork burden
Published: 28 April 2008
An increase in paperwork is preventing West Midlands nurses from spending enough time caring for patients, according to a new survey for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).
The increasing burden of administration imposed on nurses means they are spending an increasing amount of time on paperwork and clerical tasks at the expense of caring for patients and supporting relatives. Today, (Monday, 28th April) at its annual Congress, the RCN will be calling for investment in administrative support for all frontline nurses in order to free up more of their time to care for patients.
The snapshot survey of nurses across the West Midlands found that the vast majority (91%) believed that non-essential paperwork had increased over the past five years but some said that clerical support in their workplace was either non-existent or had not kept pace with demand.
Nearly one in four nurses questioned (23%) had no access to clerical support despite the majority (89%) firmly believing that help with clerical duties would mean they could spend more time caring for patients. Despite the increase in clerical tasks, only a fifth of nurses (20%) across the region had seen a corresponding increase in administrative support in their workplace over the past two years. Those who did have support from a ward clerk or similar administrative role had, on average, less than three hours (2.8 hours) direct help every week.
Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive & General Secretary of the RCN, said: "Nurses are clearly feeling the burden of non-essential paperwork. The danger is that this is undermining their ability to care for patients and support relatives. Of course, there will always be a certain amount of paperwork that needs to be done, but wherever possible, these non-essential tasks should be carried out by clerical staff. To do this we need to see an urgent increase in the number of ward clerks and other clerical support roles.
"We know that the money needed to fund this support is available to the NHS right now. The government could use just some of last year’s £2 billion NHS surplus to free up nurses from non-essential paperwork, so that they can spend every minute of their shift providing quality patient care.”
The RCN is also calling for all employers across the region to undertake a fundamental review of paperwork to make sure that administrative processes are fit for purpose and support clinical activity. In order to ensure this, the review should aim to clarify the difference between non-essential clerical tasks and essential clinical paperwork such as completing care plans and medication records. Nurses should be central to this review process which should aim to streamline administrative processes and improve ways of working to maximise the amount of time nurses spend on clinical care.
Patricia Marquis, RCN West Midlands Director, said: "The results of the survey paint a pretty depressing picture for our local nurses and for patients. Paperwork is deflecting nurses from caring for patients and supporting relatives in their time of need. Employers need to examine how they manage nurses’ administrative paperwork burden - we need nurses providing patient care at the bedside and in the community, not doing filing and photocopying."