NEW laptops could save community nurses valuable time.

Great Western Hospital is in talks with Swindon NHS Clinical Commissioning Group to fund the new laptops.

Directors at the Marlborough Road hospital, which runs the community nursing service in Swindon, say evidence from Wiltshire suggests state-of-the-art computers could save their nurses up to 30 minutes a day.

The nurses, who visit their patients based in homes and care homes across the town, are slowed down by kit that in some cases have been used for almost a decade.

Kevin McNamara, strategy director at GWH, said: “When you go out and shadow the teams you can see that clear inefficiency. Some of these laptops are eight years old.”

A recruitment drive meant the community teams would need new computers anyway, Mr McNamara added.

GWH took over responsibility for adult community healthcare services in 2017, after the collapse of firm SEQOL the previous year.

The service was widely regarded as inadequate. However, in the most recent CQC inspection published last month, the community service was rated Good.