Cameron announces £100m nurse tech fund

Prime Minister David Cameron has announced he will give £100m in funding for nurses and midwives to spend on new mobile technology, such as digital pens.

Hospitals will be loaned the money and the amount they have to pay back will depend on feedback from patients, friends and family on whether the technology has improved services.

The money is a part of a £140m investment promise to ensure nurses can spend more time with patients.

The scheme will offer hospitals £100m to pay for new electronic devices and software to free up time and make essential patient details instantly available on the ward. The money will be made available in the form of loans.

Speaking ahead of the Conservative Party Conference, Cameron said: "Too often nurses have been met with a barrage of bureaucracy. 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.”

The new technology could include digital pens and other handheld mobile devices that allow staff to know the latest information about a patient’s treatment whenever, wherever they are and provide safer, quicker care.

A spokesperson from the Department of Health said organisations would have to put forward a case for the funding, and clear guidelines on how to do this would be issued before the funding becomes available by April next year.

Another £40m will be spent on helping ward sisters and community team leaders develop their leadership skills, with training for 1,000 staff starting this year.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt, who took over after Andrew Lansley in the recent cabinet reshuffle, said the fund would make a better NHS for nurses, midwives and patients.

"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,” he added.

The money will initially be given in form of loans but hospitals will only need to pay back a small percentage of it, depending on feedback.

Hospitals that receive positive feedback from patients in the new ‘Friends and Family Test’, in which staff and patients are asked if they would recommend the hospital to their family and friends, will not have to repay their loan.

The government has also promised a £15m cancer radiotherapy innovation fund to expand advanced radiotherapy techniques to those who need them by April 2013.