HOSPITAL nurses are being forced to “ration care” because they don’t have enough time to properly look after patients, according to a new study co-written by Southampton experts.

Fundamental aspects of care are “frequently being left undone”, researchers found.

Almost nine in ten nurses questioned said they were so busy on their last shift that they were unable to performat least one “care activity” such as proper patient surveillance, documenting care, administering medication properly, comforting patients, preparing them for discharge or changing a patients' position in bed - to prevent bed sores.

The study, published in the online journal BMJ Quality & Safety, examined data from almost 3,000 nurses who work in 46 English hospitals.

They were asked whether they were unable to perform basic care elements because of time constraints.

The authors from the University of Southampton and the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery found that 86 per cent of nurses were unable to perform at least one of 13 care elements because they were too busy.

Comforting and talking with patients was the most common activity to be axed by busy nurses, with 66 per cent saying that they didn't have time to do this on their last shift.

Just over half of nurses saying they were forced to skip “educating patients”

and 47 per cent said they did not have time to develop or update nursing care plans. The fewer patients a nurse looked after, the less likely care would be missed or rationed, the authors found.

Nurses looking after 11 or more patients were twice as likely to say they rationed patient monitoring as those looking after six or fewer patients.

“Most nurses working on general medical and surgical wards in this representative sample reported that some care was left undone on their last shift,” the authors said.

“Our findings raise difficult questions for hospitals in a climate where many are looking to reduce – not increase – their expenditure on nurse staffing.”

Government ministers have resisted calls for minimum staff levels, saying that hospitals need the “freedom and flexibility” to decide on how many staff to employ.