Is Mobile Working The Solution The NHS Desperately Needs?

A mobile working solutions provider is urging the government to consider mobile working as a means of boosting NHS working hours in light of calls for nursing staff within the organisation.  

According to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), there are currently fewer nurses now than there were in 2010 if midwives, health visitors and school nurses are included within the equation.  

This shortage is stretching resources within the NHS and when the ageing population and longer life spans of people living with long term conditions are factored in, nurses are struggling to cope and the situation looks set to escalate.  

"Of course we agree with the RCN and employing new nurses in the short term with have an impact, but there has to be a period of transformation and we need to look at mobile technology to iron out efficiencies in the system," claimed TotalMobile CEO Colin Reid. 

"You need to take a look at the telescope from the other end, look at the current nursing workforce, and their daily practices. 

"There are vast inefficiencies in the working nurses's standard day, such as excessive paperwork, which takes up time that could be better spent with patients," he added.  

Significant Time And Financial Savings 

TotalMobile has worked out that mobile working could save nurses between one to two hours per day, equating to £13.19 per day per nurse.  

The firm based this upon the average salary of a low end band six nurse which the RCN says is £25,783 annually. 

Using this equation, a group of 1000 nurses utilising mobile technology would saved £3.5m a year.  

Meanwhile, an hour per day saved equates to an additional 133 nurses if you take that time saving for a group of 1000 nurses.  

"These are very significant savings and for this reason it is imperative the new government runs with mobile technology in the NHS to help create a sustainable, long-term nursing strategy," claimed Reid. 

"The NHS wants to deliver more care within the community, mobile working is ideally suited to such a strategy. It enables nurses to spend more time caring for patients as they only have to record information once, at the point of patient contact, as opposed to having to spend lengthy and inefficient trips back to the office to input data," he added.