IN BRIEF: Nurse chores.

AN INCREASE in paperwork is preventing nurses from spending enough time caring for patients, according to a survey. UK nurses spend more than a million hours a week on paperwork, filing and photocopying, a poll for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) found.

The union warned that nurses are coming under pressure and called on NHS trusts to employ more administrative staff.

This would free up nurses' time so they could spend more quality hours caring for patients, it said.