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Nurses spend two weeks a year on admin, review finds

At the NHS Confederation conference in Liverpool, health secretary Jeremy Hunt has shared some early findings from a review of procurement and rostering by Lord Patrick Carter
Nursing administration

Nurses are spending up to two working weeks a year on admin tasks instead of patient care, a review to be published shortly has found. 

Jeremy Hunt

Speaking at the NHS Confederation conference in Liverpool today, health secretary Jeremy Hunt shared some findings from Lord Carter of Coles' review into procurement and rostering in the NHS. 

Mr Hunt said the work has shown nurses can spend more than 70 hours a year on administrative tasks, adding: 'That time could be spent on patient care.’

The review will also flag up inefficiencies in NHS procurement, such as one trust spending £66 for a box of toilet rolls compared with another paying £30 for the same product. 

Lord Carter will describe his vision for a ‘model hospital’ in terms of procurement in his review and by September NHS trusts will be told how they can make savings. Trusts will be expected to start making efficiency savings on procurement from January 2016.