Medical Post - Less than 40%!

I've been a Doctor now for 21 years. Back then the Doctors were King and the Consultants were Gods. The Consultants hadn't quite achieved immortality, but in every other respect their words were law. During that time things have changed, allot! Now, the nurses are in charge. The vast majority of hospital managers are nurses. It is a natural career progression for them and they are trained to do it. The same cannot be said of Doctors. Very, very few managers have a medical background. Nearly all the day to day organisational decisions within a hospital are made by nurses. But, is there a downside?
I read recently that on one busy surgical ward, the average nurse would spend less than 40% of his/her time looking directly after patients! I don't know what they were doing the rest of the time, but I suspect there would be allot of writing involved. The UK NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement is so concerned about this trend that it has set up its Productive Ward scheme. This scheme claims to be "Releasing Time to Care -The Productive Ward focuses on improving ward processes and environments to help nurses and therapists spend more time on patient care thereby improving safety and efficiency." They have developed a step by step "Toolkit" to help the struggling Director of Nursing re-engage his/her staff with the patients.
www.KAYAK.im